KONTAN.CO.ID – SINGAPORE. People who experience a reaction after the first dose of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine are invited to get a Sinovac shot as a second dose, Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary said in Parliament Monday (2/8).
People who receive COVID-19 injections in such a manner will be considered fully vaccinated. He added that the people would receive a second shot of this vaccine at a clinic in a public hospital for closer monitoring, given their previous allergic reactions.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, approved for use in national programs, use messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. It teaches cells to make proteins that trigger immune responses in our bodies.
This is in contrast to the Sinovac vaccine, known as CoronaVac, which uses killed, unreactive coronavirus particles to stimulate the body’s protective antibodies. The Sinovac vaccine is currently permitted to be administered in Singapore under a special access route, once approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO).
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Dr Puthucheary was responding to Member of Parliament (MP) Gerald Giam (WP-Aljunied) who asked how individuals who had an allergic reaction to the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine could achieve full vaccination status.
VAKSIN NOVAVAX
Responding to another question from Mr Giam about the progress of regulatory approval for the Novavax vaccine, Dr Puthucheary said that those who are allergic to the mRNA vaccine can also choose to wait for the Novavax vaccine which has been obtained by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and is expected to be delivered by the end of the year.
The MOH and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) are working with Novavax to facilitate regulatory submissions for their vaccine, he said.
Singaporean authorities have signed an advance purchase agreement with Novavax for its vaccine, a non-mRNA vaccine that has shown high efficacy against the COVID-19 virus in January this year.
“The review time will depend on the availability and submission of data by the company to the HSA. While we recognize the need to facilitate timely access to vaccines, there should be no compromise on the scientific rigor of the assessment of its quality, safety and efficacy,” he said.
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