SINGAPORE, Dec 24 — More than one in three students aged nine to 11 in Singapore have been registered to receive a Covid-19 vaccine as of 7pm on Thursday (Dec 23), with all vaccination slots for December fully taken up.

This was after about 110,000 invitations by SMS via phone were sent out by the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Wednesday to parents or guardians of students who will be in Primary 4 to Primary 6 next year, to get them to register for the vaccination.

Students in the MOE primary schools and madrasahs are eligible for the nation-wide vaccination exercise.

The opening of the national online appointment system will also be brought forward a day earlier to Dec 26 "to facilitate the timely vaccination of our children”, MOE said in a statement on Thursday night.

This means that from Sunday, all parents or guardians of children born between 2010 to 2012 can register their interest to vaccinate their child or ward at child.vaccine.gov.sg.

Following the registration, parents or guardians will receive a link via SMS within three to five working days to book an appointment.

Earlier this month, the authorities gave the approval for children in Singapore between the ages of five and 11 to receive paediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. 

The ministry said on Thursday that children born in 2009 and who have reached the age of 12 on the date of their first vaccination appointment will be required to take the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

"These children can walk in, accompanied by one parent or guardian, to any of the 22 vaccination centres offering the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine without a prior appointment,” it added.

In a Facebook post on Thursday night, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said that MOE is seeing "very good take-up” for the weekend vaccination slots for January next year.

"Heartened to see many parents taking decisive action to protect our children as we meet the evolving challenges from the pandemic,” he wrote.

He added that students who are getting vaccinated during school hours, as well as those feeling unwell from the side effects of the vaccine, would be given time off and deemed to be on medical leave.

The Ministry of Manpower is urging employers to give time off to their employees for their children’s vaccination, Chan said.

He noted that the five-to-11 age group is "by far the largest remaining group of unvaccinated population” in Singapore, numbering more than 300,000.



"We strongly encourage parents or guardians to register their child or ward for vaccination when they receive the invitation, if they are medically eligible.



"This is an important step for us to keep our children, our families and our extended communities, including our schools and preschools safe and more resilient against Covid-19,” he said. — TODAY