Professor Teo Yik Ying, dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore, said on Thursday (Dec 24): "This is the only way we can continue to ensure that the community as a whole is protected."
This means that instead of aiming to get 80 per cent of the population here to be vaccinated against Covid-19, "we may be now looking at 90 per cent or even higher", said Prof Teo, who was speaking in a video interview with The Straits Times on its daily online talk show The Big Story.
The new B117 strain of Covid-19 circulating in Britain has been reported to be more contagious, but has not shown signs of being more lethal or severe.