From 1 June 2021, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) will be rolling out vaccination to progressively cover over 400,000 students from schools and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs). This is part of the larger national effort to keep education institutions and the wider community safe.
Vaccination roll-out for students
Based on approval from the Health Science Authority (HSA) of the medical suitability of the vaccines, students below the age of 18 will only be offered the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, while students aged 18 and above can opt for either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.
All eligible students can expect to receive their invitation to sign up for their vaccination from 1 June 2021.
- Graduating cohorts at the secondary schools and Pre-University levels, in particular students sitting for the GCE N-, O-, A- Level examinations in the second-half of 2021, will be the first to receive their invitations. This is to ensure they have greater flexibility in scheduling their vaccination appointments.
- Invitations will be progressively extended over the next two weeks to other groups of full-time students1 in schools and IHLs, including the Privately-Funded Schools, Madrasahs and Special Education (SPED) schools.
Medically eligible students can receive their vaccinations at the following locations:
- Community vaccination centres
- Four additional dedicated MOE vaccination centres. Three are jointly set-up by MOE and the Health Promotion Board (HPB) at ITE College campuses - ITE College Central, ITE College East and ITE College West. One is located at Raffles City Convention Centre.
- MOH will deploy mobile vaccination teams to SPED schools to carry out vaccinations for all SPED students aged 12 and above. The SPED schools will share the registration instructions and guidelines with students and parents/guardians.
Conduct of Vaccination Exercise and Registration Process
Students above the age of 18 and parents/guardians of students below the age of 18 will receive SMSes with a unique link to book vaccination appointments at any of the vaccination centres. Those below the age of 18 will only be offered appointment slots at centres with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The main vaccination exercise for most students will be through the National Appointment System as this will provide the maximum flexibility in terms of choice of date and venues. MOE will look into providing alternative arrangements for students who require additional support for vaccination when schools reopen, such as facilitating transport arrangements.
Parental/Guardian Consent
Students below the age of 18 will be required to seek parental/guardian consent as part of the vaccination appointment booking process through the National Appointment System. Consent given via this system will be collected once and will apply for both doses of the vaccine.
Students aged 13 and above do not need to be accompanied by their parents/guardians to the vaccination centres. Parental/guardian accompaniment is only required for students aged 12 and SPED school students.
For more information, click here for MOE’s press release.
1 In line with HSA’s approval of the use of COVID-19 vaccines in Singapore, SMS invites will only be sent to parents/guardians of children who are 12 years old as at 1 June 2021. Those whose 12th birthday falls after 1 June 2021 will be invited for vaccination at a later date.
