This came just 2 weeks after the Multi-Ministry Taskforce accepted the recommendation by Singapore’s Expert Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination (EC19V) for all persons aged 80 years and above, persons living in aged care facilities, and medically vulnerable persons to receive a second booster dose five months after receiving their first booster dose.
According to the EC19V, local data shows that protection against severe disease is sustained after a third mRNA booster shot, but there could be “waning of protection, particularly in the elderly and medically vulnerable.”
MOH added, “Persons living in aged care facilities such as nursing homes tend to have comorbidities and should receive a second booster dose even if they have not reached 80 years of age. For this group, the second booster dose will be organized through the respective aged care facilities and rolled out progressively.”
For those who are healthy and in younger age groups, there are currently no recommendations for them to receive a second booster dose, “as they have better immune responses to vaccination and are at a lower risk of severe disease,” noted MOH.
However, MOH has allowed those who are in younger age groups but are medically vulnerable to get their fourth dose. This medically vulnerable group includes persons with chronic diseases of the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and other organ systems, who are “at increased risk of severe disease due to significant medical risk factors.”
This is because the EC19V has previously recommended these immunocompromised persons to receive three doses (as opposed to two for healthy individuals) as part of their primary enhanced series and to receive a first booster dose (fourth dose) five months after the third dose.
Currently, there is no recommendation for a second booster dose for this group.
For those eligible to receive a second booster dose, this recommendation will not result in a change in their vaccination status for Singapore’s Vaccination-Differentiated Safe Management Measures if they do not receive a second booster dose.
This is in contrast to the announcement of the first booster dose, where the vaccination status of an individual changes to partially vaccinated if the person did not receive the first booster shot.
