[Updated 25 January 2022]

The Multi-Ministry Taskforce has accepted the recommendation by the Expert Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination (EC19V) to use the paediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years.

Vaccinating this age group of children will further reduce the risk of transmission in school settings and reduce disruptions to education as well as co-curricular activities.

Vaccination shown to protect children from infection and severe disease

The incidence of COVID-19 in children has been increasing in tandem with the incidence of community cases. Although children have a low risk of severe disease, some of those infected with COVID-19 have developed life-threatening disease and severe late complications. Children also spend a significant amount of time in communal settings such as schools, where the transmission can spread quickly as they interact.

The EC19V has reviewed clinical data submitted to the Health Sciences Authority and studied information available globally pertaining to COVID-19 vaccines for use in children.

• The results of Phase 3 clinical trial of the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty paediatric dose vaccine (at 10 micrograms, one-third of the adult dosage) in children aged 5-11 years have shown that around 90% reduction in the risk of symptomatic infection.
• As cases of COVID-19 infection in the clinical trial occurred from July to August 2021, when the Delta variant was already predominant in the US, these results reflect the vaccine’s efficacy against the Delta variant.

The common side effects in children who received the vaccine were generally mild to moderate, and children in this age group had fewer systemic side effects compared to persons 16-25 years of age.

• While there were no cases of anaphylaxis seen in the study, the risk of anaphylaxis or allergy can be expected to be comparable to that observed in adolescents and young adults
• While the rare risk of myocarditis and/or pericarditis cannot be dismissed, no cases of myocarditis/pericarditis were observed in the trial.

The EC19V thus assesses that the benefits of the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine outweigh the risks, especially in the current situation of ongoing community and global transmission.

Infographic: MOH

Recommended dosage for children aged 5-11 years

The recommended dosage for the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine is as follows:

• Two paediatric doses (10 micrograms each) timed at least 21 days apart
• This dosage is one-third of that used in persons aged 12 and above

For more information, please refer to MOH’s press release.

Designated Vaccination Centres

To facilitate the vaccination of younger children, there will be 15 designated paediatric vaccination centres (VCs) located island-wide to progressively begin operations from 27 December 2021. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has also worked with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to set up an additional paediatric VC within Yusof Ishak Secondary School, starting from 11 January 2022, to provide better coverage of the Punggol/Seng Kang area.

[NEW] No appointment required on Mondays to Thursdays

From 25 January 2022, children aged 5-11years old can walk in with their parents/guardians to any paediatric VC to receive their first vaccination without a prior appointment. As such, parents/guardians, who currently have to first register their interest, will now no longer have to wait up to 5 working days to receive the SMS to book an appointment, unless they wish to make a booking on Fridays to Sundays.

This arrangement is only applicable from Mondays to Thursdays. Parents/guardians who intend to vaccinate their child/ward under this arrangement should arrive at the VC by 7pm. On the day of the vaccination, parents/guardians should bring along the following documents:

• Student Identification, or if not available, other forms of identification (e.g. Birth Certificate/Passport/SingPass)
• A signed hard or soft copy of the parental consent form, which can be downloaded at https://go.gov.sg/parcf

Parents/guardians are also encouraged to release any bookings made should they wish to vaccinate their child/ward under this arrangement.

For more information, please refer to MOE’s press release.

The registration process will open progressively to all eligible children who are Singapore Citizens (SC), Permanent Residents (PR) and long-term pass holders (LTPH) by age bands.

The roll-out will start with children born between 2010 to 2012, followed by those born between 2013 to 2017. Children must have crossed their 5^th birthday before they are eligible to book an appointment and receive the vaccination.

Parental/Guardian consent required for booking of appointment

Parental/guardian consent is required to book a vaccination appointment for both doses of the vaccine. Those who registered their interest on the NAS will also be required to sign a consent form and bring along a hardcopy or softcopy to the VC for verification. The consent form can be found on NAS.

All children must also be accompanied by a parent/guardian at the VC for the appointment. Only one parent/guardian is allowed to accompany their child/ward into the VC to ensure compliance with Safe Management Measures at the VCs.

For more information on registering your child for vaccination and how to prepare your child for their vaccination, visit MOH website or MOE website.

"Sibling Walk-In" arrangement

From 10 January 2022, siblings of children with bookings on Mondays to Thursdays can walk in for their vaccination without a prior appointment.

Parents/guardians who intend to vaccinate their children/wards under this arrangement should arrive at the vaccination centre by 7pm. Those with bookings for the paediatric vaccination centre at Yusof Ishak Secondary School (YISS) should arrive by 5pm. The VC at YISS will begin operations on 11 January 2022.

Those who have booked separate appointments for different children/wards are encouraged to keep only one desired slot and cancel the remaining bookings on the National Appointment System at child.vaccine.gov.sg. As the children must be accompanied by one parent/guardian, it would suffice for one parent/guardian to be present for children going for the same vaccination appointment. Flexibility will be exercised to allow one parent/guardian per child, should there be requests from the parent/guardian.

Due to the high demand for appointment bookings, this arrangement is not applicable on Fridays to Sundays. For more information, go here.