ROLLOUT OF UPDATED COVID-19 MONOVALENT VACCINES

            The Ministry of Health (MOH) will roll out the updated COVID-19 monovalent vaccines progressively from 30 October 2023, eventually replacing all existing formulations of Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Moderna/Spikevax vaccines by 20 November 2023.

2.            Individuals aged 5 years and above who wish to receive the updated Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty monovalent vaccine may do so from 30 October 2023, and individuals aged 6 months and above who wish to receive the updated Moderna/Spikevax monovalent vaccine may do so from 14 November 2023. This follows MOH’s acceptance of the latest updated recommendations of the Expert Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination (EC19V). 

EC19V’s updated vaccine recommendation

3.            The EC19V has updated its recommendation to advise that individuals should receive an additional dose in 2023/2024, around one year (and no earlier than five months) after their last vaccine dose.

4.            The additional dose is recommended for those at greatest risk of severe disease, including persons aged 60 years and above, medically vulnerable individuals and residents of aged care facilities. Beyond this group, the EC19V encourages all individuals aged 6 months and above to also receive the additional dose for 2023/2024, particularly for healthcare workers and household members/ caregivers of medically vulnerable individuals.

Rollout of updated vaccines at JTVCs, PHPCs and polyclinics

5.            Based on the expected date of arrival of shipments, MOH will roll out the updated monovalent vaccines based on the following schedule:

a.    30 October 2023 – Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty for all individuals aged 5 years and above;

b.    14 November 2023 – Moderna/Spikevax for all individuals aged 6 months and above; and

c.    20 November 2023 – Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty for children aged 6 months to 4 years.

6.            Members of public may receive their vaccination by walking into any Joint Testing and Vaccination Centre (JTVC), Public Health Preparedness Clinic (PHPC) or polyclinic offering the vaccine. The nearest vaccination site and the types of vaccines offered at each site are listed at https://www.gowhere.gov.sg/vaccine. Those who prefer to book an appointment for their vaccination can either call the clinic directly or do so at https://book.health.gov.sg/covid.

Extension of operating hours at JTVCs

7.            In anticipation of higher demand for the updated vaccines, from 4 November 2023 to 2 December 2023, MOH will extend the operating hours of all JTVCs on Saturdays from 9am to 7pm, instead of the usual opening hours from 9am to 1pm. A longer waiting period should be expected on Fridays and Saturdays.

8.            Please visit https://www.vaccine.gov.sg/locations/jtvc/ for the operating hours of JTVCs. Members of public can also check with the PHPCs if they offer vaccination on Sundays. Please visit https://www.vaccine.gov.sg/locations/clinic for the list of PHPCs.

Transition to Full Registration

9.            With COVID-19 treated like any other endemic infectious disease, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) announced in April 2023 that it will no longer receive applications for interim authorisation under the Pandemic Special Access Route (PSAR), and for vaccine manufacturers to transit to full registration. To date, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have successfully obtained full registration. 

10.         For now, the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine continues to be included under the National Vaccination Programme (NVP). However, if there is no application for it to be fully registered, NVP will lapse for the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine by 30 September 2024. Nevertheless, the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine will continue to be available at private clinics which have applied to use it under the Special Access Route (SAR). Please refer to https://vaccine.gov.sg/locations/clinic for the list of PHPCs offering the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine.

11.         Clinics can also bring in Sinopharm via SAR. However, as Sinopharm is not part of the NVP, individuals who receive the vaccines are not eligible for the Vaccine Injury Financial Assistance Programme (VIFAP).

Vaccination is safe and effective

12.         Vaccination remains our primary defence against COVID-19, and continues to be safe and effective. Based on HSA data, as of 30 September 2023, reporting rates of adverse events and serious adverse events for the mRNA vaccines (monovalent and bivalent versions) remained rare at 0.10% and 0.007% respectively. The incidence of myocarditis has remained rare, with reporting rates of 1.0 per 100,000 doses (0.001%) for the monovalent vaccines and 0.4 per 100,000 doses (0.0004%) for the bivalent vaccines.

13.         Protection from vaccination will wane over time. We therefore encourage all individuals to keep up to date with their vaccination once eligible.