Singapore Expats

What does the hospital mean by mandatory? Do parents have a choice of whether or when to immunize their newborn? I know some schools will not admit the child unless they follow the health Ministry's immunization schedule but poking my baby at 1 day old does not appeal to me and I would like to wait a few months before he gets his first shot.

As far as I know, the vaccinations are not mandatory in hospitals but most hospitals will through in BCG & Hep B jabs free as part of their hospitalization package. When my baby was born this May, we opted out of taking these jabs and even Vit K jab at birth after doing some research on vaccinations. In singapore, the child only needs to be vacinated with MMR jab before they get into P1. We're going to vacinate him with BCG (and yes, we'll have to pay for it now cos we chose to give up the free jab given at birth) but now that he's 5 months, I feel better than having to jab him at birth

According to the web pages of the National Immunisation Registry, only measles and diptheria are compulsory and you can face a fine or jail time by not vaccinating for those. http://www.nir.hpb.gov.sg/nir/eservices/eservice.jsp

We haven't had either of our boys vaccinated for BCG or Hep B yet. Won't do the BCG at all and will do the Hep B later. I have no idea if schools prevent children's entry without all the vaccinations on the Singaporean schedule. Any one else know?

Most schools do not have requirement that they be vaccinated. I workl in the pre-school sector and it's not a must.

batgirl_cdn wrote:According to the web pages of the National Immunisation Registry, only measles and diptheria are compulsory and you can face a fine or jail time by not vaccinating for those. http://www.nir.hpb.gov.sg/nir/eservices/eservice.jsp

However, the law also says that the vaccination must be done within 12 months of birth/arrival to Singapore, so it's not necessary to do immediately.

samsarah wrote:As far as I know, the vaccinations are not mandatory in hospitals but most hospitals will through in BCG & Hep B jabs free as part of their hospitalization package. When my baby was born this May, we opted out of taking these jabs and even Vit K jab at birth after doing some research on vaccinations. In singapore, the child only needs to be vacinated with MMR jab before they get into P1. We're going to vacinate him with BCG (and yes, we'll have to pay for it now cos we chose to give up the free jab given at birth) but now that he's 5 months, I feel better than having to jab him at birth

Thats good to know. Thanks for the info. =)

batgirl_cdn wrote:According to the web pages of the National Immunisation Registry, only measles and diptheria are compulsory and you can face a fine or jail time by not vaccinating for those. http://www.nir.hpb.gov.sg/nir/eservices/eservice.jsp

We haven't had either of our boys vaccinated for BCG or Hep B yet. Won't do the BCG at all and will do the Hep B later. I have no idea if schools prevent children's entry without all the vaccinations on the Singaporean schedule. Any one else know?

Thanks for the link. Why not BCG may i ask? The compulsory ones are measles and diptheria but the shot comes in combo doesnt it? Any way to space out the different individual Immunisation shots at least so the baby doesnt get all at once? Even my vet make me space out my cat's Immunisation shots.

bumpity bump

Why so quiet?

Sorry, haven't been to the site for some days.

BCG only prevents against TB meningitis, does not prevent primary infection of pulmonary TB that can be spread. Singapore doesn't seem to have a huge problem with TB, and we don't hang out with high risk people who may have been exposed to TB. So, I just feel like the chances are low for my child to be exposed to TB and suffer from TB meningitis. With all the other shots that are recommended for kids, I just don't feel this one is that necessary.

Hep B is important, but since it is primarily sexually transmitted, we thought we'd wait till there was a gap in the vaccination schedule and do it then. None of our children have immediate caregivers who have Hep B.

These are personal decisions and it is best to read more about vaccines and consider family medical history. We have an alternate vaccination schedule that we are happy with, but I wouldn't suggest that it was the best one for others. Maybe you can read up and talk to your pediatrician or GP and draft up an alternative schedule that you feel more comfortable with, if you aren't comfortable with the Singapore schedule.

Has anyone heard of any of the rules being enforced? Ie..people getting fines or jailed for not vaccinating their children?

How does the National Immunisation Registry keep track of all the children that are born or arrive in Singapore?

No, I haven't heard of anyone fined or jailed, then again, I don't know many people in Singapore who don't vaccinate. One family home schooled their kids, so maybe the kids were below the radar. A Singaporean family I know had a first child with autism, so they wrote the government and told them they didn't want to vaccinate their second child in case of a link between genetic predisposition and vaccines. The government did not force the vaccination or punish the family.

I had my son vaccinated for something here in Singapore and the doctor's office sent the info to the national immunization registry. The government sent me a letter asking for his complete record, or if there isn't one, to get the compulsory vaccinations and send the proof in. (Compulsory are diptheria and measles. Separate measles shots can be found at Japanese health clinics if want to avoid the MMR.)

marnispringer wrote:Has anyone heard of any of the rules being enforced? Ie..people getting fines or jailed for not vaccinating their children?

How does the National Immunisation Registry keep track of all the children that are born or arrive in Singapore?

They must keep track of the children that are born in Singapore b/c I received a notice from the Government requesting proof of a certain vaccination about a year ago for my daughter. I'm not sure how it works - but the doctor's office didn't report a shot she was given and had to resubmit. I've never received any sort of communication regarding my son's records. In re: to school - I was required to give a detailed list of the immunization record for my son - they give you a list and you write down the date they were immunized but I'm not certain this was a requirement to enter the school or just for their records (?) - they didn't want to see copies of the books or anything. Both my children have been fully vaccinated but we've modified some of the shots based on the areas we've lived. I'm very impressed with my pediatrician here and we've worked on the schedule together.

The day is finally here and I'm sitting beside my new healthy baby boy. I was told by my pediatrician that taking care of a BCG wound at birth is much easier than taking care of it after a few weeks because the scar is near the buttocks which needs to be clean often. How much bearing does this have? Anyone with experience?

I know this thread is a bit old, but I have a relevant experience I thought I'd share.

Like many other parents, I choose not to vaccinate my children at birth, but wait until about 3 months old. I've never worried too much about it since only family members are handling them during that time anyway. This time, however, we have a helper in our home, and so I decided to ask her to be tested for Hep B, since I declined this vaccine at birth. Turns out, she is a carrier.

At first I panicked and was ready to get rid of her immediately. I was sick with worry and regret over making the wrong choice to hold off on the vaccine. We've since spoken with several doctors, who all pretty much concur that the likelihood of passing the infection is low. Not exactly the remedy for sweet dreams, but reassuring.

Apparently Hepatitis B is prevalent in this region, and it is NOT one of the diseases the government tests for.

For now, we've decided to keep the maid. She is a fantastic maid, and we realize that trying to find a Hep B negative helper of her quality may prove difficult. So we are limiting her contact with the baby until he finishes his series of vaccinations.

I did want to share the story though to let others know that if you are delaying this vaccination and you have a helper in your household, you may want to exercise caution until you get the child immunized.