Singapore's Version of Vaccine Coercion

A recent announcement from the Singapore's Ministry of Health should be of great concern to the rest of the world, particularly since politicians have long proven that they are incapable of independent thought, preferred to follow the lead of other governments, a situation that has presented itself repeatedly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Here is the entire announcement:

 

 

The announcement notes that 85 percent of Singapore's residents have received their full primary soeired of two COVID-19 vaccines and 18 percent have received boosters.  As well, 94 percent of seniors in the 60 to 69 year age group and 90 percent of seniors aged 70 years and above have received their fill primary series with 82 percent of seniors aged 60 years and above receiving their booster shot.

 

Here is a quote on the local COVID-19 situation and Singapore's healthcare capacity:

 

"Daily case numbers have stabilised for around three weeks now. While cases have remained at more than 3,000 a day on average, close to 99% of cases continue to have mild or no symptoms and the vast majority are able to recover well at home. The proportion of patients who require oxygen supplementation has held steady at 0.8% of our total cases, and those who require ICU care at 0.3%, in the past 28 days. The number of cases in the ICU remains high but stable at around 140 cases, who occupy 70% of our current ICU bed capacity. We have been actively expanding the capacity of COVID-19 Treatment Facilities (CTFs) and Community Isolation Facilities (CIFs) over the past few weeks to take in COVID-19 patients who do not require acute care in hospitals. 

  

Despite the nation's high vaccination rate, new deaths continue to rise at a far higher rate than round 1 of the pandemic back in March to May 2020, a situation which is not unique to Singapore:

 

...but the case fatality rate remains fairly low:

 

Now, let's look at the key part of the announcement:

 

If the pandemic has achieved nothing else, it has proven that government coercion and fear-mongering can get anybody to do just about anything.

 

As a bit of background, here is how Singapore's health care system works:

 

"Singapore’s health care financing system is underpinned by the belief that all stakeholders share responsibility for attaining sustainable universal health coverage. Singapore has a multipayer health care financing framework, where a single treatment episode might be covered by multiple schemes and payers, often overlapping. The system, known as the 3Ms, comprises the following programs:

MediShield Life, a universal basic health care insurance, is mandatory for citizens and permanent residents and provides lifelong protection against large hospital bills and select costly outpatient treatments. It was launched in 2015 to replace MediShield, an opt-out catastrophic illness insurance scheme.  MediShield Life premiums are subsidized by the government on the basis of income. In addition, working-age persons pay higher premiums so that older residents can have lower premium increases. These features have helped to keep annual premiums affordable, ranging from SGD 98 (USD 72) for low-income Singaporeans under age 20 to SGD 1,530 (USD 1,117) for high-income residents over age 90.

MediSave, a national medical savings scheme, helps cover out-of-pocket payments. Personal and employer salary contributions (8%–10.5%, depending on age) to MediSave accounts are mandatory for all working citizens and permanent residents. These tax-exempt, interest-bearing (currently 4% to 5%) accounts can be used to pay for family members’ health care expenses.

MediFund is the government’s safety net for needy Singaporeans who cannot cover their out-of-pocket expenses, even with MediSave."

Ironically, we find this about Singapore's health care system:

 

"The Ministry of Health’s mission is to promote good health and reduce illness, ensure access to good and affordable health care, and pursue medical excellence. The Ministry of Health is responsible for regulating the public health system and the health care system overall."

 

So, basically, a person living in Singapore who had spent their entire life paying for their health care through the premiums paid for the MediShield Life program and find that because they chose not to have an experimental vaccine which is proving to be less than effective when it comes to transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, they are cut off from the health care system unless they have the funds to pay for their own health care.

 

Next up for this special treatment for the unvaccinated - Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.  You heard it here first.  Any excuse to cut health care spending will be perfectly acceptable to the power-drunk sociopaths running the governments of these nations.  And should you happen to think that it serves the unvaccinated right for their choice, what about people who choose to smoke or eat to excess and end up in hospital, the willing victims of their own unhealthy lifestyle?