SINGAPORE - The Sinovac-CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine will not be offered by the Government under the National Vaccination Programme after Sept 30, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Aug 30 in a media release.
This is because no application has been made to the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) for the vaccine – a traditional, non-mRNA vaccine produced using an inactivated virus – to be fully registered.
As Singapore is managing Covid-19 as an endemic disease, HSA requires all Covid-19 vaccines to be fully registered. During the pandemic, Covid-19 vaccines were allowed under emergency authorisation.
MOH advises eligible individuals who wish to receive the Sinovac-CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine to do so by Sept 30.
It also said that the production of this vaccine has stopped and the supply of the Sinovac-CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine is currently not commercially available in Singapore.
Therefore, private clinics are also unable to provide it under the Special Access Route, it said in the Aug 30 release.
This means that the clinics that have applied to provide the vaccine under this interim authorisation framework can continue to do so only until their stock runs out.
The Covid-19 vaccines that have been fully registered with HSA are the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Moderna/Spikevax mRNA vaccines, and the protein-based Novavax/Nuvaxovid vaccine.
These will continue to be provided under the National Vaccination Programme (NVP), MOH said.
Under NVP, vaccination is free for all Singaporean citizens, permanent residents, long-term pass holders, and certain short-term pass holders.
The ministry has been recommending the public to receive the mRNA or Novavax/Nuvaxovid vaccines for protection against Covid-19 in view of the lower efficacy of the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine.
In late 2023, MOH announced that the Sinovac-CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine would no longer be available under the NVP should there be no application for it to be fully registered.
MOH said that Covid-19 waves will continue to occur from time to time and can cause severe disease among those who are older or medically vulnerable.
It thus advises the public to keep up to date with their Covid-19 vaccination.
All persons aged 60 years and above, medically vulnerable individuals and residents of aged care facilities are recommended to receive an additional dose of vaccine around one year after the last dose, but no earlier than five months, it said.
