With a high vaccination rate (85%) and a week-on-week decline in infections, Singapore is in a good place, yet there are many lives still exposed and at stake. As a public service, we republish a 13 Nov 2021 article by Ho Ching from her Facebook page. She points to new waves of infection in several countries and urges Singapore residents to take booster vaccine shots.
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Holland is not the only country facing a surge after about 2 months of freedom.
They have had to tap on their brakes as pressure on their hospitals mounted.
Holland has had over 2 million confirmed cases last year, out of a population of 17 million.
Germany is seeing record surges, and although the rate of hospitalisation or death is lower than their previous waves, the pressure is building up.
Several highly vaccinated European countries still have large pockets of the unvaccinated who account for the majority of the hospital pressure, much like in Sg.
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Eastern and central Europe is facing an even more dire challenge as vaccination remains low in many of ex-Soviet bloc countries.
Russia itself is seeing record numbers of new cases daily.
Europe as a whole now accounts for half the world’s confirmed new cases daily.
This excludes the undetected or unrecorded cases.
China, for instance, does not count asymptomatic cases in their daily new case reporting.
With some 70% already fully vaccinated, we should expect that the asymptomatic cases would be around 5-10 times more than the symptomatic cases.
A map of the reported cases in China shows a widespread pattern, much like in Sg after the Jurong Fishery Port cluster. This is a sign of early widespread community spread.
China has already started its booster 3rd shot programme, as well as vaccination of their children.
For young people, they can face the virus confidently if they have been fully vaccinated.
Folks with weakened immune system from disease or medication should do their 3rd shot earlier in 1-3 months after their 2nd shot.
Folks with 2 shots of Sinovac or SinoPharm should similarly take their 3rd shots in 1-3 months, ideally with an mRNA vaccine, and ideally about 2 months after their 2nd shot.
The older folks, esp the seniors and the elderly in their 80s or older, should also take their booster 3rd shot in 5-7 months after their 2nd mRNA shot.
Younger adults above 30 could take their booster 3rd shot 6-9 months after their 2nd mRNA shot.
Adults in their 20s could consider a booster 3rd shot if they are in jobs with high exposure to Covid infection, like working in a hospital, esp in a Covid ward, or in A&E, etc.
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Ho Ching was CEO of Temasek Holdings for 17 years and is the spouse of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. She posts frequently on her Facebook page here.
