Vaccination in Singapore: Protect Yourself, Your Family, and Your Community
Vaccination is one of the best ways to keep yourself, your loved ones, and your community safe from preventable diseases. In Singapore, we have access to a wide range of vaccines that help protect us from serious illnesses—whether you’re a parent vaccinating your child, an adult planning travel, or simply someone looking to stay healthy.
Why Are Vaccines Important in Preventing Diseases?
Vaccines are powerful tools in preventing the spread of infectious diseases. By getting vaccinated, you are not only protecting yourself but also helping to protect others, including vulnerable groups who cannot receive certain vaccines. Immunisation reduces the risk of outbreaks and helps maintain a healthy community.
When you get vaccinated, your body’s immune system learns to recognize and fight harmful germs. This reduces the chances of you getting sick, or passing along an infection to others. Immunisation saves millions of lives every year, making it one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions worldwide.
How Do Vaccines Work?
Vaccines are designed to help your immune system recognize harmful germs, without you having to experience the disease itself. They contain a small, harmless amount of a germ—either weakened, killed, or a part of it—that triggers your body’s immune response. This process helps your body produce antibodies that can fight off the infection if you encounter it in the future.
Simply put: Vaccines teach your body to protect itself. Over time, this helps you develop long-lasting immunity to a range of serious diseases.
Why Staying Up-to-Date on Vaccines is Essential
Even if you’ve been vaccinated in the past, it’s important to keep your vaccinations up to date. Immunity can weaken over time, and additional vaccines may be needed as you grow older, travel, or experience changes in your health.
Factors like your age, lifestyle, travel plans, and even existing health conditions can affect your immunity, which is why regular updates to your vaccination schedule are vital. For instance, certain vaccines like the shingles vaccine or travel-specific ones such as the yellow fever vaccine become more important as you age or travel abroad.
Vaccination is simple, safe, and one of the most effective ways to protect your health. Book your vaccination appointment today and keep yourself and your family safe from preventable diseases.
Vaccines for Every Stage of Life in Healthway Medical Clinics
Vaccines are not just for kids. Whether you’re a parent, a teen, or an adult, there are recommended vaccines for you at every stage of life. Read on to learn what vaccines are suitable for you at different phases of your life.
Vaccinating your child is one of the best ways to protect them from serious, preventable diseases. The National Childhood Immunisation Programme (NCIP) in Singapore covers essential vaccines for children, such as:
- TB (BCG)
- Hepatitis B (HepB)
- Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus (DTaP)
- Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (Hib)
- Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR)
- Pneumococcal Disease (PCV)
- Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
Vaccines for diphtheria and measles are mandatory by law in Singapore.
Ensure your child’s immunisations are up-to-date!
As your child grows, vaccines remain just as important. Adolescents are still at risk for diseases like pertussis, measles, and meningitis. Singapore’s Adolescent Immunisation Programme ensures that teens receive essential vaccines, including:
- Tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid and acellular pertussis (Tdap)
- Polio
- Human Papillomavirus
Source: Health Hub
Vaccination doesn’t stop once you reach adulthood—it's just as important! Vaccines for adults depend on factors like age, health conditions, lifestyle, and travel plans.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) has established the National Adult Immunisation Schedule (NAIS) to provide guidance on vaccinations that persons aged 18 years and older should adopt to protect themselves against vaccine-preventable diseases, to facilitate important vaccinations amongst adults and help individuals make more informed decisions.
NAIS covers seven types of vaccines that protect against 11 diseases, including:
- Influenza
- Pneumococcal (PCV13/PPSV23)
- Human Papillomavirus
- Tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid and acellular pertussis (Tdap)
- Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR)
- Hepatitis B
- Varicella
Vaccines are vital in preventing serious diseases and safeguarding communities through immunity and disease control.
Dr John Cheng Ping-Chang, Chief Medical Officer (“CMO”) of Healthway Medical Group
Flu vaccines are released twice a year
The flu vaccine is typically recommended on an annual basis, as the influenza virus can change from year to year. Each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other health authorities review the circulating strains of the flu virus and create a vaccine tailored to provide protection against the most common strains expected to cause illness that season.
Healthway Medical clinics provide quadrivalent vaccinations that protect against four different flu viruses; two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses.
This flu vaccine is released twice a year during April / May and September / October (for the Southern Hemisphere influenza season and Northern Hemisphere influenza season respectively). Each new release contains different strains of flu virus that are expected to be the most common for that season, so as to provide optimal protection against flu viruses.
Common Vaccination Questions and Side Effects: Everything You Need to Know
No. Vaccines cannot give you the disease they are meant to prevent. While some people may experience mild symptoms after vaccination, like a fever or sore arm, these side effects are temporary and far less severe than the diseases themselves.
Some vaccines, like the flu vaccine and Tdap (for whooping cough), are recommended during pregnancy to protect both the mother and baby. Always consult with us before getting vaccinated during pregnancy.
Even if you’ve had a disease like chickenpox or measles, vaccines can help boost immunity and protect against future infections. Some diseases have multiple strains, and the vaccine offers protection against the most current versions.
It’s generally recommended to wait until you feel better before getting vaccinated. When you’re sick, your immune system is already working hard to fight the illness. Introducing a vaccine may cause your body to respond more intensely, and you may experience stronger side effects. Additionally, being sick might mask any side effects you would experience from the vaccine, making it harder to tell how your body is reacting.
Why Choose Healthway Medical for Vaccination?
At Healthway Medical, we offer a range of vaccination services to ensure you and your family are protected against preventable diseases. Our friendly healthcare professionals can help guide you on the right vaccines based on your age, health status, and lifestyle.
- Comprehensive vaccine options for children, adolescents, and adults.
- Personalized consultations to determine which vaccines are right for you.
- Convenient appointment scheduling at our clinics.
Vaccination Myths & Facts
Fact: This myth started with a fraudulent study in 1998 that was later discredited and retracted. Extensive research since then has found no link between vaccines (including the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella) and autism. Vaccines are safe and do not cause autism.
Fact: While natural immunity occurs when you get an infection, it comes with the risk of serious illness, long-term complications, or death. For example, getting measles or chickenpox can lead to complications like pneumonia, brain swelling, or even death. Vaccines provide a safer, more controlled way to develop immunity without risking those dangerous side effects.
Fact: Vaccination is important for people of all ages, including adults. Immunity from childhood vaccinations can weaken over time, and some diseases can affect adults more severely. For example, adults should receive the flu vaccine, the shingles vaccine after 50, and the Tdap vaccine (for tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) throughout life.
Fact: The flu vaccine does not give you the flu. The vaccine contains an inactivated or weakened form of the virus, which cannot cause illness. Some people might experience mild side effects, like a sore arm or a low-grade fever, which are normal reactions as the body builds immunity, but they are temporary and much milder than actual flu symptoms.
Fact: Vaccines are one of the most rigorously tested and safest medical products available. They are subject to extensive clinical trials and continuous monitoring for safety even after they’re approved. The benefits far outweigh the risks. Serious side effects are extremely rare.
Fact: Vaccines are highly effective at preventing the spread of disease. Diseases like polio, smallpox, and measles have been dramatically reduced or even eradicated in many parts of the world due to vaccines. While no vaccine is 100% effective, most provide strong protection against serious illness and complications.
Fact: Vaccination schedules are designed to protect children at the earliest possible age when they are most vulnerable to severe illness. Many vaccines, like the Hepatitis B vaccine, are most effective when given during infancy. Delaying vaccination leaves your child unprotected and at higher risk for serious infections.
What are the Singapore Government subsidy for flu vaccination?
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| Singaporeans will be able to use up to $400 of their Medisave per account, under the Medisave400 scheme, for all recommended vaccinations for the target adult population groups in the NAIS. | You can also use your child's Baby Bonus for immunisation programmes at approved healthcare institutions. Click Here | You can also use CHAS subsidies for vaccinations at Healthway Medical. Click Here |
| Medisave can also be used to pay for all the vaccinations under the National Childhood Immunisation Schedule (NCIS). Patients and their immediate family members can use up to $400 per year, per Medisave Account to pay for the approved vaccinations. | Healthway Medical is proud to be a participating CHAS GP and dental clinic that provides affordable healthcare for the community. Click Here |
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