Singapore will stop covering the medical bills of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients

The Singapore government will no longer foot the medical bills for unvaccinated people who are hospitalised for COVID-19.

Until now, the government had not charged any citizens, permanent residents or long-term pass holders for their medical treatment for the virus.

Under new rules introduced this week, those who are unvaccinated by choice will have to pay their own way.

The exemptions:

The government has revealed some exemptions will be made for those unable to receive a coronavirus vaccine.

The exemption includes children under the age of 12, as well as those with valid medical exemptions.

From January 1st, the government revealed it will only foot the bill for those Singaporeans (including permanent residents and long-term pass holders) who are fully vaccinated against the virus, and have not recently traveled.

Singapore’s high vaccine status

Singapore is one of the most vaccinated nations in the world and has been slowly easing its COVID-19 restrictions.

As of Sunday, 85% of its population was fully vaccinated, and 18% had received booster shots, according to health ministry data.

The health minister has continued to credit the hard work of vaccination teams with reducing the number of unvaccinated seniors from 175,000 in early August to below 64,000.