Singapore — Amid the highest numbers of new Covid infections since April last year, along with more deaths as well, some infectious disease specialists say they favour a vaccine mandate, especially for older people.
Singapore has one of the highest vaccine rates in the world, with Ho Ching, the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong saying in a Facebook post on Sept 20 that it has reached 90 per cent for many age levels.
The country also has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world, with only 62 people so far dying due to Covid-related reasons.
However, with daily numbers of new infections breaching 1000 of late, and the number of deaths also growing, perhaps it’s time to consider a vaccine mandate.
An even bigger concern is that in this month alone, there are five times more patients who need oxygen support or intensive care, and there are now 18 people around the country’s ICUs.
All in all, there are 100 ICU beds for Covid patients, although this capacity can increase threefold if needed.
Reuters talked to a number of specialists in the field on the matter of a vaccine mandate.
It quotes infectious disease expert at the National University Hospital in Singapore, Professor Dale Fisher, as saying, “I would love to see vaccine mandates in over 60s, they are the group most likely to die.
It’s the same reason that age group was selected early for vaccines, the same reason that age group has been selected for booster jabs.”
His sentiments were echoed by infectious disease modelling expert at the National University of Singapore, Professor Alex Cook, who said, “Vaccination is much more protective than the other measures we have in place, and less economically and socially damaging. If we are not to enforce vaccination, it seems odd to enforce weaker and more costly measures.”
Among the vaccinated individuals who were infected with Covid from May to mid-September, only .09 per cent required treatment in hospitals’ intensive care units or died.
For the unvaccinated, however, the rate of those who needed ICU care or died rose to 1.7 per cent.
Even more noteworthy, among senior citizens from the age of 80 and up, 15 per cent of those who got Covid had to be treated in intensive care or died.
From this group, only 1.79 had been vaccinated.
At present, Singapore has around 80,000 seniors who are unvaccinated.
Other countries such as France and the United States have already imposed vaccine mandates. But the situation is a little different in Singapore, where vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, have only received emergency approval.
If these vaccines receive full approval, this could lead to making vaccines mandatory.
According to infectious diseases doctor Leong Hoe Nam, a vaccine mandate in place could mean that people “cannot go to the malls or take public transport or eat out unless vaccinated.”
However, Prof Fisher is aware that implementing a vaccine mandate will not be easy. He told Reuters, “It will take political courage, there’s no doubt about that, but the science would say you will save hundreds of lives if you vaccinate the last 100,000 seniors.” /TISG
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