Moderna's bivalent Covid-19 booster vaccine in S'pore by end-Sept; Pfizer's being evaluated
The first shipment of Moderna's Spikevax bivalent Covid-19 vaccine is expected to arrive in Singapore at the end of this month.
The authorities will announce details of the shipment when arrangements have been finalised, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on his Instagram page on Thursday.
The bivalent vaccine has been authorised for use as a booster for people aged 18 and above who have already received their primary series vaccination.
The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) on Wednesday granted interim authorisation for the use of the vaccine, which targets both the original Sars-CoV-2 strain of the virus and the Omicron BA.1 variant.
The safety of the new bivalent vaccine is comparable to that of Moderna’s original Covid-19 vaccine, with mostly mild-to-moderate side effects such as pain at the injection site, as well as fatigue and muscle pain.
Moderna had said that it was working with HSA and the Government to make its bivalent vaccine “available to people in Singapore during September”.
In his video, Mr Ong also said that the Health Sciences Authority was evaluating the bivalent vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech.
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