SINGAPORE, Jan 29 — Nearly 10,000 children aged five and six have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) said today (January 29). 

In all, more than 16,000 children from this age group have been registered by their parents or guardians to get vaccinated.

ECDA gave the media this update on the sidelines of a visit by two government leaders to a children’s vaccination centre at Our Tampines Hub. 

In a previous update on Jan 12, ECDA said that more than 5,000 children aged five and six have been registered to get the vaccine.

TODAY has asked the Ministry of Social and Family Development for the total cohort size of children aged five and six in Singapore.

During a tour of the Tampines vaccination centre on Saturday, Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for Social and Family Development, told reporters that the Government was thankful to parents for bringing their children — especially those in preschool — for vaccination.

Asked if the Government was satisfied with the pace of vaccination among young children, Mr Masagos replied: "I’m quite sure parents understand the nature of Covid-19, especially now that we have the Omicron variant, as we have already heard the number of children who get infected is increasingly high.”

Although children are less likely to get severe Covid-19, getting them vaccinated can help to prevent more vulnerable seniors from being infected, he said.

Mr Masagos, who is also Second Minister for Health, added that the Government would maintain its approach of having both a booking and a walk-in system to strike a balance between preventing vaccine doses that are prepared in advance from going to waste and making vaccination for children convenient.

He again encouraged parents to register their children for vaccination if they are medically eligible. 

In a statement, Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State for Social and Family Development and Education, added that children’s vaccination centres have been designed to reduce anxiety.

For instance, Families for Life, formerly known as the National Family Council, is giving out items such as colouring kits and bookmarks at the vaccination centres in Yusof Ishak Secondary School and Our Tampines Hub. This would be expanded progressively to other vaccination centres, said Ms Sun, who was also at the Tampines vaccination centre on Saturday. Among those who got their jabs there was Primary 1 pupil Khalifah Khalil.

"It’s a bit painful, but it was fast,” said the six-year-old boy. 

At the centre, which is open to children aged five to 11, balloons, stickers and lanyards were given to those who have received their jabs.

Health workers were also stationed around the immunisation booths to console crying children. 

Starting this week, children aged five to 11 would be able to go to any children’s vaccination centre with their parents or guardians from Mondays to Thursdays to get their first vaccine dose without an appointment. 

Education Minister Chan Chun Sing on Friday said that those who plan to use this walk-in service on the eve of Chinese New Year next Monday should do so by 1pm, as the vaccination centres will shut earlier.

They will also be closed next Tuesday and Wednesday for Chinese New Year. 

The centres cannot accommodate walk-ins from Fridays to Sundays owing to high demand for appointment bookings. 

The authorities announced in December last year that they were expanding the national vaccination programme to include 300,000 children aged five to 11, and they would get paediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty vaccine. 

It started with Pri 4 to 6 pupils from December 27, before being rolled out to Pri 1 to 3 pupils from the week of January 3. 

And from the week of January 10, parents or guardians of all children aged five and older have been able to register their interest on the national appointment system.

Mr Chan said that so far, 175,000 children have been given at least their first vaccine dose, with more than 25,000 of them having received both jabs. — TODAY