113,000 workers in Singapore still unvaccinated
- Charles Chau
- Topics: Health and Wellness, Home Page - News, News, Singapore
Out of these people, about 14,000 are above the age of 60 – the age group vulnerable to severe illness or death from COVID-19 infection, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Both ministries revealed that as of October 17, 96% of Singapore’s workforce had been vaccinated and 70% of companies have reached a 100% vaccination coverage for their employees.
They said, “There is a small minority of unvaccinated employees who are doctor-certified to be medically ineligible for mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. With the announcement that Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine will be included in the national vaccination programme… most of these employees can get vaccinated with Sinovac and are strongly encouraged to visit an approved private clinic to do so as soon as possible.”
Employees who are medically ineligible for all the vaccines under the national vaccination programme, including Sinovac, are exempted from the workforce vaccination measures if they need to work on site, the ministries said.
The ministries also encouraged pregnant employees to be vaccinated as soon as possible. “Unvaccinated pregnant women are at higher risk of complications and severe illness should they contract COVID-19,” they said.
READ: Unvaccinated workers not allowed back to workplace in Singapore
From January 1 next year, only workers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have recovered from the diseases within the past 270 days will be allowed to return to the workplace.
Those who are unvaccinated will only be allowed back to the workplace if they have tested negative for COVID-19, and the cost of these tests will be borne by the employees themselves.
