Woman allegedly offers $1,000 for spot in queue for Sinovac vaccine
PHOTO: Facebook/Shin Min Daily News
PUBLISHED ONJune 25, 2021 6:20 AMByAlexander Kyle Thirumaran
A woman who needed to travel urgently allegedly offered $1,000 for someone to queue her spot at a clinic near Tampines Street 91 for the Sinovac vaccine.
Her attempts to get a slot at eight clinics offering Sinovac failed, while a clinic told her it would take her circumstances into consideration and asked her to wait for their call, Shin Min Daily News reported on Wednesday (June 23).
Although others suggested that she join in the queue from 2am, she said: “I have to attend classes, I really don’t have the time to do this."
The woman added that she had registered for both Pfizer and Moderna vaccinations but has yet to get a slot, and needed to rush back to Australia for personal reasons.
Seeing no takers for her initial offer of $300, she increased the amount to $1,000 and finally found someone who was willing to queue on her behalf. The woman, who declined to be named, said she is currently waiting for a response from the clinic.
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Similarly, hundreds of people flocked to select private clinics across the island this past week to make bookings for Sinovac vaccinations, according to several media reports.
This comes after the Ministry of Health's announcement on June 16, approving 24 private clinics to administer Sinovac jabs.
For the Little Cross Family Clinic near Tampines Street 91, over 20 people can be seen either lying down on cardboard mats or sitting on makeshift chairs as they wait in line from a video uploaded on Youtube on June 24.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAwNwwa52T4[/embed]
A witness told the Chinese daily that said clinic consistently had a queue of around 100 people over three to four days and peaked at 400 people queuing at one point – with one waiting in line for three days. Police officers were also seen on the ground.
One man told the publication that he joined the queue because he could not understand the clinic's website information on the Sinovac vaccination nor could he reach them by phone. Eventually, despite queuing up, many failed to book a Sinovac appointment as slots were limited.
AsiaOne has reached out to Little Cross Family Clinic for more information.