Singapore residents aged 18 and above can book Novavax COVID vaccination

SINGAPORE — From Friday (13 May), all those who are 18 years and above in Singapore and can receive COVID-19 vaccination, including boosters, may book an appointment to receive the Novavax vaccine.

The announcement by the Ministry of Health (MOH) comes after it announced on 4 May that the Nuvaxovid COVID-19 protein-based vaccine by Novavax had arrived in Singapore.

The administering of the Novavax vaccine will be conducted at the Joint Testing and Vaccination Centre (JTVC) Bishan, or any of the 20 participating Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs).

The PHPCs will start the vaccination from next Wednesday, while the JTVC Bishan will do so from 24 May.

The JTVC Bishan is one of five new JTVCs offering both COVID-19 testing and vaccination services, which will begin operations from 24 May. Another five JTVCs will open progressively from end-June.

The public are strongly encouraged to book an appointment via the National Appointment System before proceeding to the JTVCs.

“These centres are designed with the ability to scale up operations in the event of an emerging variant of concern in future,” MOH said.

As of Thursday, 92 per cent of Singapore’s total population have completed their primary vaccination series and 75 per cent have received their booster doses.

MOH will be progressively reducing the number of vaccination centres from end-May.

As recommended by the Expert Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination, individuals aged at least 18 years may receive the Novavax vaccine for their primary series or booster vaccination, but the mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are the preferred vaccines due to their higher efficacy.

Those who are medically ineligible to receive the mRNA vaccines should consider the Novavax vaccine.

Under the national vaccination programme, the Sinovac-Coronvac vaccine will only be made available as a booster to persons who are medically ineligible to receive the mRNA vaccines and the Novavax vaccine. Persons receiving the Novavax vaccine for their primary vaccination series are recommended to receive two doses at least 21 days apart.

Those receiving the Novavax vaccine for their first or second booster dose are recommended to receive it from about five months after their last dose.

Persons aged at least 18 will need to be medically ineligible to all the COVID-19 vaccines under the programme to be considered medically ineligible for vaccination in Singapore and exempted from vaccination-differentiated safe management measures.

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