Third Covid-19 vaccine centre for students opens at ITE College West
SINGAPORE – The third dedicated Ministry of Education (MOE) vaccination centre to support the vaccination roll-out for students opened on Monday (June 14) at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College West in Choa Chu Kang.
Two centres had opened earlier at the college’s campuses in Ang Mo Kio and Simei, while a fourth will open at the Raffles City Convention Centre on Tuesday.
More than 300,000 students across Singapore have registered for their vaccination appointments thus far, of whom over 101,000 have taken their first dose, said Second Education Minister Maliki Osman.
About 345,000 SMSes and invites had been sent to eligible students.
Dr Maliki gave reporters an update on student vaccination numbers on the sidelines of a visit to the school to launch the vaccination centre on Monday.
“Our first batch, our graduating students, about 90 per cent of them have already registered, and about 75 per cent received their first doses.
“It’s very encouraging to see how the students are responding to all these invitations and SMSes that have been given to them.”
The hope is that all students will be able to get fully vaccinated by the end of August, Dr Maliki added, though this will depend on the response rate.
Schools are reaching out to parents of students who did not respond to the vaccination bulletins to find out more about their concerns, he said.
“It could be an issue where the parents may not know how to (register)… that they are not quite familiar with the online system.
“It could also be that parents have some concerns about issues of safety and so for that, we are asking teachers to reach out to them,” he said.
Some working parents may also face challenges in getting their children, especially the younger ones, to the vaccination centres.
“So, for those groups, we can assure them that all they need to do is when school reopens, to get in touch with the teachers.”
The schools are ready to help, for example, with transport arrangements, he said.
It was earlier announced that Singapore would roll out its vaccination exercise to more than 400,000 students in schools and institutes of higher learning, including autonomous universities, polytechnics and ITE, amid more Covid-19 infections among children.
Those affected included students in primary and secondary schools, junior colleges, the Millennia Institute, madrasahs, special education schools, and the international arms of Hwa Chong Institution, Anglo-Chinese School and St Joseph’s Institution.
Students had been invited to sign up for vaccination slots from June 1, starting with about 56,000 students who will be sitting major examinations like the O and A levels this year.
Those aged 18 and above can opt for either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, while those aged between 12 and 17 will be offered only the Pfizer jab as the Moderna vaccine has not been approved for use with this younger age group.
Dr Maliki said the ITE centres will be able to administer 1,600 doses of the vaccine a day, while the Raffles City centre can do 2,000 doses a day.
This week, the three centres will provide vaccinations for ITE students in the morning from 8.30am to 11.30am, and for all other students from 1.30pm to 4.30pm.
From next week, the centres will be open to all students.