Singapore authorities announced the “fully vaccinated” status of residents would lapse nine months after their last dose unless they get a booster shot. In a press conference on Jan. 5 by the Multi-Ministry Taskforce overseeing Singapore’s response to COVID-19, Minister of Health Ong Ye Kung announced the full vaccination status would now have an expiration date. “Two hundred-ninety days or nine months after you have taken your second dose of mRNA or third dose of Sinovac/Sinopharm vaccine and you have not taken your booster,” Ong said, “your full vaccination status will lapse.” Singapore uses the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Moderna mRNA vaccine regime in its National Vaccination Programme (NVP), and included the non-mRNA vaccine Sinovac effective Oct. 23, 2021. But due to the “relative lower vaccine efficacy” of Sinovac and Sinopharm, three doses are required instead of two. Singapore’s vaccination rate ranks as one of the highest in the world. More …