Eric Moo Could Not Board Flight To Singapore ‘Cos Vaccine Name Was Not Stated On His Vaccination Cert
Despite being fully vaccinated, Malaysian singer Eric Moo was not allowed to board his China Southern Airlines flight to Singapore earlier this week.
The 58-year-old, who has a music production company in Shanghai, had completed both doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine in the city in September and was supposed to fly to Singapore to visit his mother.
He had prepared all the necessary documents and fulfilled conditions for entry to Singapore including a negative pre-departure Covid-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test.
However, just before boarding, he was stopped by the airline ground staff and was told his vaccination cert is not recognised in Singapore.
"They said that my vaccination certificate is not recognised in Singapore because it only states the manufacturer of the vaccine and not the English name of the vaccine, ‘Sinopharm’. And Singapore only recognises the brand of the vaccine but not the name of the pharmaceutical company,” he told Lianhe Zaobao.
Eric had no choice but to seek help from the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission but was told that hospitals can only issue vaccination certs and could not make changes to them.
Vaccination certs not consistent
What puzzled Eric most was his friend, who had received China’s Sinovac vaccine, had the word “Sinovac” stated on his cert, so why didn’t his own cert show “Sinopharm”.
He added that the cert is in both Chinese and English, so even if the word "Sinopharm" is not stated, from the name of the manufacturer, the authorities can check that the vaccine he took was from Sinopharm.
According to Singapore’s Ministry of Health, all Singapore citizens, permanent residents, long-term pass holders and short-term pass holders who are travelling to the country must be fully vaccinated with vaccines approved under the World Health Organization (Emergency Use List). The vaccination status must also be recorded in the National Immunisation Registry.
In addition, they must produce a copy of their vaccination certificate in English upon arrival. If the vaccination certificate is not in English, it should be translated to English and notarised.
Photos: Eric Moo/Weibo, PBE Media
