Vaccinated individuals comprise the majority of new coronavirus infections in Singapore, according to government data.
According to Reuters, vaccinated people made up three-quarters of the country’s coronavirus infections in the last month, although severe cases among the vaccinated have been limited:
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%, were in fully vaccinated people, while 30% were partially vaccinated and just over 25% were unvaccinated, Thursday’s data showed.
“There is continuing evidence that vaccination helps to prevent serious disease when one gets infected,” the health ministry said in a statement, noting fully vaccinated people generally exhibit mild symptoms or none at all.
Singapore boasts a high vaccination rate, as 75 percent of the 5.7 million in the country have received the jab.
The Singapore Ministry of Health announced in early July that it would only count recipients of the American made Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines as vaccinated for the purposes of national statistics. Vaccinated individuals who have contracted the coronavirus are presumably recipients of one of the American products. Individuals who received other options such as Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine or one of several Chinese products officially count as unvaccinated.
The news comes as the Biden White House urges Americans to get vaccinated as the delta variant spreads across the U.S. Notably, White House press secretary Jen Psaki cited findings revealing that vaccinated people are more concerned about the variant’s spread than the unvaccinated.
“I believe it was a CBS poll — that showed that vaccinated people in the country are more fearful about the Delta variant than unvaccinated people,” she said.
“That’s clearly concerning to us because unvaccinated people should be more fearful. And what the President wanted to convey to people in the country is the impact and effect of getting vaccinated,” she added.
Meanwhile, Texas state Rep. Donna Howard (D), one of the fully vaccinated Texas state lawmakers who tested for the coronavirus after fleeing to Washington, D.C., alongside her maskless colleagues to prevent House Republicans from pursuing election integrity measures, is now among those calling for a universal mask mandate.