Frequently Asked Questions about COVID-19 Vaccination

MOH has put in place multiple steps to ensure that vaccination is medically safe for you before you get vaccinated.

Online Screening
Before making appointments for vaccination, you will be prompted to complete an online screening form, which contains medical questions. These questions screen out those who are unsuitable for COVID-19 vaccines under the National Vaccination Programme.

Medical Screening at Vaccination Site
There is also a round of medical screening conducted on-site on the day of vaccination. Persons who remain unsure after clearing the online screening form, or who choose to walk-in to a vaccination site without going through online screening will also be screened on-site. 

You may seek clarifications or further assessment with the medical professionals there to assist with any medical queries that you may have.

If you are unsure of your allergy history, the vaccination sites are able to securely access your allergy history if required.

Doctor’s Consultation
Alternatively, you may consult your regular doctor for advice on whether you should receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

Please note that any charges incurred for such pre-vaccination consultation with your doctor are not covered under the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Your doctor may provide a memo on your condition which will be useful for the medical team at the vaccination site to assess your suitability for vaccination.

However, the final decision as to whether you should proceed with vaccination will be made by the medical professionals at the vaccination site.

There is no category of children or teens who absolutely shouldn’t get the vaccine, unless they have a known allergy to other vaccines or one of the vaccine’s components.

People with weakened immune systems, either from illness or medication, may still receive the vaccine because it isn’t a live vaccine i.e. a vaccine that uses a weakened form of a germ to prompt an immune response.

There have been reports of allergic reactions to the vaccine, but these occurrences are very rare.

Vaccine recipients are monitored for 30 minutes after receiving the injection in case of any allergic reaction. Children and teens with other types of allergies outside of those related to vaccines can feel safe receiving the vaccine.

Children or teens who recently received other vaccinations should wait two weeks before getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

If you child has any medical condition that is not stable or is getting worse, he or she should postpone the vaccination until the medical condition is better controlled.

If your child has cancer and is on active chemotherapy, you should consult your child’s cancer specialist to discuss if or when your child can be vaccinated.

Parents are always encouraged to speak with their teen’s or child’s doctor/pediatrician if they have any questions or concerns.

Pregnant or breastfeeding women can receive the COVID-19 vaccines.

Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Moderna/Spikevax Vaccines
Internationally, a large number of pregnant and breastfeeding women have received a COVID-19 vaccination.  The Expert Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination (EC19V) has examined studies done to monitor women who were vaccinated when they were pregnant, and their babies. These studies were done on women at different trimesters of pregnancy and there is no evidence to suggest that the Pfizer-BioNTech/ Comirnaty or Moderna/Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine may cause harm to pregnant women or their babies.

Both Pfizer-BioNTech/ Comirnaty and Moderna/Spikevax COVID-19 vaccines are mRNA vaccines. As mRNA vaccines are not live vaccines, they are biologically unlikely to adversely affect breastfed babies. In addition, the breast milk of vaccinated mothers may help to protect their babies from COVID-19 due to antibodies in breast milk. There have also been no vaccine-related side effects reported in the babies who were breastfed by mothers who received the vaccine while breastfeeding.

Sinovac-CoronaVac and Novavax/Nuvaxovid Vaccine
There is currently limited data in pregnant women. Nevertheless, The Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccines is an inactivated vaccine, while Novavax/Nuvaxovid is a protein subunit vaccine. These vaccines are routinely used in many other vaccines with a documented good safety profile, including in pregnant women.

Current evidence suggests that the current COVID-19 vaccines continue to offer good protection against the various COVID-19 variants. Bivalent vaccines can offer better protection against Omicron and other COVID-19 variants than monovalent/prototype vaccines, and you are recommended to receive the bivalent vaccines when it is made available to you.

MOH will continue to monitor the evolving situation and global studies of vaccine efficacy against the various COVID-19 variants.

You may visit any of the following locations to have your records verified and ingested:

a) Any Joint Testing and Vaccination Centres (JTVCs) on Mondays to Fridays before 6.30pm

• To locate these JTVCs, please use the link

c) Any clinic that offers this as a service.

• A non-exhaustive list of such clinics can be found by using this link. Please call ahead to check if your preferred clinic offers this service and to book an appointment if needed. Please note that polyclinics do not provide this service.
• Clinics will charge a fee for the time and manpower needed to provide this service and handle the ingestion of records.

If you have a non-digitally verifiable vaccination certificate

You may visit any clinic that offers such services to take a serology test before having your records ingested. The serology test is a means to confirm that you have undergone effective vaccination.

• A non-exhaustive list of such clinics can be found by using this link. Please call ahead to check if your preferred clinic offers this service and to book an appointment if needed. Please note that polyclinics do not provide this service.
• Clinics will charge a fee for conducting the serology test and to handle the ingestion of records.