Residents wearing protective masks cross the street amid the spread of the Covid-19 disease in Singapore. Photo: ANTARA/REUTERS/Caroline Chia
jpnn.com, SINGAPORE – People who have been vaccinated accounted for three-quarters of cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore in the past four weeks, but they are not seriously ill.
The country’s rapid vaccination program means that the number of people who have not been vaccinated is shrinking.
Although data show the vaccine is highly effective at preventing severe cases, the risk of transmission in those who have received the vaccine remains. Therefore, the government concluded that vaccination alone was not enough to inhibit the transmission of the virus.
Of the 1,096 cases of local transmission in Singapore in the past 28 days, 484 (44 percent) of them came from people who had been fully vaccinated, 30 percent from people who were partially vaccinated, and 25 percent had not been vaccinated.
Meanwhile, there are seven serious cases that require oxygen assistance, and one case is in intensive care. None of the eight patients have been fully vaccinated, the health ministry said.
“There is ongoing evidence that vaccination helps prevent disease severity if the recipient becomes infected,” the ministry said, adding that all infected recipients of the full vaccine were asymptomatic, or only had mild symptoms.
Infection in people who have been vaccinated does not mean the vaccine is ineffective, experts say.
“As more people are vaccinated in Singapore, we will see more cases of infection among vaccine recipients,” said Teo Ying Ying, dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
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