Singapore may get Novavax vaccine by year-end: Health Minister
Singapore (VNA) – Singapore may include COVID-19 vaccine of US biotechnology company Novavax into its national vaccination programme before
the end of this year, Minister of Health Ong Ye Kung has said.
Speaking at a virtual press conference held on June 24, he said the Ministry of
Health (MoH) has been looking for vaccines of good quality, which are safe and
effective, to be part of the national vaccination programme, adding that
Novavax has recently shown encouraging results.
Novavax has been shown to be more than 90 percent effective against a variety
of COVID-19 variants, based on late-stage data from its clinical trial in the
US, The Straits Times reported.
The company said it could file for emergency authorisation in the US and
elsewhere in the third quarter of this year.
Like the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, it also requires two shots, spaced apart.
In January, Singapore signed advance purchase agreements with the Novavax company to
secure its vaccine, with supplies
possibly arriving before the end of the year.
Currently, only the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which use mRNA
technology, are offered under Singapore's vaccination programme. These vaccines
teach cells to make a protein that prompts an immune response.
Novavax is a protein-based vaccine that uses purified pieces of the virus to
spur an immune response. Vaccines against whooping cough and shingles employ
this approach./.