Daily US Times: Singapore has fully vaccinated 80 percent of its 5.7 million people against Covid-19, becoming the world’s most vaccinated country and setting the stage for further easing of curbs.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Singapore’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said: “We have crossed another milestone, where 80% of our population has received their full regimen of two doses.”
“It means Singapore has taken another step forward in making ourselves more resilient to COVID-19,” the minister added.
That gives Singapore the world’s highest rate of complete vaccinations.
Other countries that have high vaccination rates include Uruguay, Chile and the United Arab Emirates, which have fully inoculated more than 70 percent of their populations.
Singapore began its vaccination campaign against Covid-19 in January. The country relied mostly on the vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.
Ong said earlier in August that if Singapore can “continue to keep the number of severe cases and illnesses under control and our healthcare capacity is not overly stretched,” then the country will further allow social activities, open up its economy and quarantine-free travel to resume.
He said: “Our lives will be more normal, (and our) livelihoods will be better protected.”
Ong, along with two other ministers in the tiny nation, described what the new normal would look like in an article in the Straits Times in June.
They said “businesses will have certainty that their operations will not be disrupted” and large gatherings such as the New Year Countdown will resume.
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