![\"Singapore-To-Vaccinate-Schoolchildren-Against-COVID-19-PM-rapidnews\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Singapore-To-Vaccinate-Schoolchildren-Against-COVID-19-PM-rapidnews-dailyrapid.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSingapore:\u00a0<\/b>Singapore will start vaccinating schoolchildren against the coronavirus soon, the prime minister said Monday, after officials warned that new strains were affecting youngsters more.<\/p>\n
The city-state recently tightened curbs following a slight uptick in cases, after months of reporting barely any local transmissions.<\/p>\n
This included closing schools amid signs that new variants, such as the one first detected in India, were affecting children in greater numbers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In a televised speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced school students aged 12 and over will be the next group to be inoculated.<\/p>\n
Health regulators approved the Pfizer\/BioNTech vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds this month. It was previously only allowed for those aged 16 and above.<\/p>\n
“In this latest outbreak, we have seen more cases of children getting infected, in schools and tuition centres,” Lee said.<\/p>\n
“The children were not seriously ill, but parents are naturally worried. Therefore, we will take advantage of the June holidays to vaccinate students.”<\/p>\n
The city’s more than 400,000 students can start booking vaccinations from Tuesday, with the first slots available Thursday, officials said.<\/p>\n
After schoolchildren, officials will inoculate adults 39 years and younger — the final group that needs to be vaccinated in the prosperous city-state of 5.7 million.<\/p>\n
Lee also said Singapore looked on track to be able to ease its latest restrictions after June 13, as planned, as local transmissions steadily fall. The curbs include a two-person limit on gatherings and ban on dine-ins.<\/p>\n
By global standards, Singapore’s overall outbreak has been mild — officials have reported just over 62,000 cases so far and 33 deaths since the start of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Rapid news staff and is published from a syndicated feed<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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