Springfield's Vaccination Program

On 2 August 2021, Springfield School students from various grades gathered at PB3 to attend the vaccination program as encouraged by the government. The program started at 8 a.m and ended at 11 a.m.

The enforcement of pandemic protocols started in the lobby. There, students and their guardians had their temperatures taken. If their temperatures were normal, they were then allowed to enter the building, where they were greeted by two teachers and handed a registration form along with a queue number. Once students finished filling out the form, they waited in the atrium for their queue number to be called. The makeshift seating area consisted of socially-distanced chairs which were routinely sanitized by the janitors on stand-by. These precautions served to minimize the spread of Covid-19 as the virus is known to stay on surfaces for long periods of time, especially on stainless steel where they can last a total of 72 hours.

When their queue number was finally called, students were led to a table, where a teacher documented their information into a government database. After completing the registration process, students headed to Building B, where people dressed in protective clothing (PPE), and equipped with face shields and masks noted down students’ blood pressures and asked them questions about their current health as well as medical history. Their job was to make sure that it is medically safe for the students to take the vaccine.

After that, students were led to the vaccination room. The room was air conditioned and contained four vaccination stations. The medical professionals in charge of these stations all wore full protective clothing and double face masks. Once the student was vaccinated, they were instructed to scan a code and wait once more while teachers checked if the information entered at registration was accurate. They also asked for an active number that could receive messages, where students shortly received a certificate of vaccination.

Parents largely felt that the program followed government regulations and were satisfied with the school's way of handling the vaccinations. “I think the program [was] good, we did not have to wait too long to be registered and everyone wore a mask, social-distanced and I saw that after someone had taken a seat and left it would be cleaned instantly,” said Sese, the parent of a 10th grade student. Another parent offered some criticism: “There was something wrong with the computers when registering so the wait was longer but the school managed the entire thing really well. Nice to know that everyone followed the rules,” Ferry, the parent of a sixth grade student, stated.

Teachers played a role in maintaining the flow of the vaccination program. Springfield PB3’s Academic Principal, Mr Djoharli, believed improvements could have been made to the program. One recent survey of PB3 students showed that approximately 58% of all students have been vaccinated, and 42% or around 150 students have not been vaccinated. Additionally, while 68 PB3 students registered to join the program, only 53 actually attended the vaccination. Mr Djoharli also said that PB3 had expected at least 200 students from Springfield PB2, PB3, Raffles Hills and three other schools to be vaccinated but only a total of 122 students were actually vaccinated on that day. He believes if more updated information had been sent to the students, more of them would have been aware of the event and participated.

The second round of vaccinations was held on Tuesday, 31 August. Students have been invited to return to school for Term two. It is likely that many parents will still be wary of the virus and hence disapprove of offline learning, despite the mass vaccination effort.