National vaccinations mean a big effort by a Singapore government and healthcare system to give vaccines to a lot of people. The goal is to protect the public from diseases by giving vaccines to as many people as possible. This involves planning, getting vaccines, distributing them, and giving them to different groups of people across the country. National vaccination programs help prevent the spread of diseases like measles, polio, and the flu. It is also aim to achieve “herd immunity,” which means enough people are vaccinated to stop the disease from spreading easily.
National Childhood Immunisation Schedule
The National Childhood Immunisation Schedule (NCIS) comprises childhood vaccinations recommended as the standard of care for protection against vaccine preventable diseases that are of significant healthcare burden to Singapore or would be so without these vaccinations.
In consultation with the Expert Committee on Immunisation (ECI), MOH regularly reviews vaccination policies and inclusion of vaccines into the schedule, taking into consideration local disease burden, vaccine safety, efficacy and cost effectiveness of the vaccines. This ensures that the national recommendations for childhood vaccination are up to date.
Currently, the NCIS covers vaccinations against 12 diseases – tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliovirus, Haemophilus influenzae type b, measles, mumps, rubella, pneumococcal disease and human papillomavirus. From 1 November 2020, the NCIS will also cover vaccinations against two more diseases, i.e. varicella (chickenpox) and influenza.
Of these, vaccinations against measles and diphtheria are compulsory for children under the Infectious Diseases Act.
National Adult Immunisation Schedule
The National Adult Immunisation Schedule (NAIS) was established in November 2017 to provide guidance on vaccinations that persons age 18 years or older should adopt to protect themselves against vaccine-preventable diseases.
Certain adults are at increased risk of complications or susceptible to vaccine preventable diseases if they have not previously received the vaccination and are in contact with individuals who have the infection. Vaccinations recommended under the NAIS aim to prevent such infections among susceptible individuals and reduce complications, morbidity and mortality.
The NAIS was developed based on international best practice and the recommendations of the Expert Committee on Immunisation (ECI). Considerations include:
- local disease burden;
- age, occupation, pre-existing medical conditions, vaccination history;
- vaccine safety, efficacy and cost effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing infections among susceptible individuals and reducing complications, morbidity and mortality.
The vaccines in the NAIS protect against the following 11 diseases – Influenza, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, measles, mumps, hepatitis B, and varicella (chickenpox).
Vanda Clinic Management System
Using Vanda Clinic Management System (CMS), nurses and doctors can easily check a patient’s Vaccination History under NCIS or NAIS to view the date it was given, location of vaccination, and more.
This will help clinics to keep track of the vaccinations under NAIS/NCIS, and conduct those that are due for the patient.
Reference: Ministry of Health
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