In Singapore, vaccinated people made up three-quarters of recent Covid-19 cases, but few fell ill

Data showed that of the 1,096 cases in the last month, 44 per cent were fully vaccinated and 30 per cent partially vaccinated – but none were hospitalised

‘There is continuing evidence that vaccination helps to prevent serious disease when one gets infected,’ the health ministry said

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A health care worker takes a nose swab for a coronavirus test in Singapore, which has seen a recent surge in cases. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00am, 24 Jul 2021Updated: 9:18pm, 24 Jul 2021

Vaccinated individuals accounted for three-quarters of Singapore’s Covid-19 infections in the last four weeks, but they were not falling seriously ill, government data showed, as a rapid ramp-up in inoculations leaves fewer people unvaccinated.

While the data shows that vaccines are highly effective in preventing severe cases, it also underscores the risk that even those inoculated could be contagious, so that inoculation alone may not suffice to halt transmission.

Of Singapore’s 1,096 locally transmitted infections in the last 28 days, 484, or about 44 per cent, were in fully vaccinated people, while 30 per cent were partially vaccinated and just over 25 per cent were unvaccinated.

While seven cases of serious illness required oxygen, and another was in critical condition in intensive care, none of the eight had been fully vaccinated, the health ministry said.

“There is continuing evidence that vaccination helps to prevent serious disease when one gets infected,” the ministry said, adding that all the fully vaccinated and infected people had shown no symptoms, or only mild ones.

Infections in vaccinated people do not mean vaccines are ineffective, experts said.

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