SINGAPORE : As countries battle to persuade holdouts to get vaccinated, Singapore has settled on one of the most aggressive strategies: The city-state is going to stop fully covering Covid-19 medical bills for the unvaccinated.
Singapore’s government has paid the full treatment costs of nearly all Covid-19 patients since last year, under a pandemic-era policy to ensure financial considerations wouldn’t add to public concern about the disease.
On Wednesday, the government withdrew that support for those who choose to go unvaccinated. “We have to send this important signal, to urge everyone to get vaccinated if you are eligible," Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said last month.