Nuvaxovid COVID-19 vaccine to be offered at first Joint Testing and Vaccination Centre, 20 clinics by end-May

SINGAPORE: Novavax’s Nuvaxovid COVID-19 vaccine will be offered at Singapore’s first Joint Testing and Vaccination Centre and at 20 Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs) by the end of the month, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Wednesday (May 4). 

The joint testing and vaccination centres will offer both COVID-19 testing and vaccination services in the same place, said MOH in a press release. The first such centre will be at the former Bishan Park Secondary School. 

“The (centres) will allow us to consolidate our resources, while ensuring testing and vaccination services remain accessible to the public,” MOH added.  

The ministry also said that it was working to have selected PHPCs offer the Nuvaxovid vaccine, adding that further details will be announced in the coming weeks. The first shipment of the Nuvaxovid COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Singapore on Wednesday. 

On Feb 14, the multi-ministry task force accepted the recommendation of the expert committee on COVID-19 vaccination to include the Nuvaxovid vaccine in the national vaccination programme for people aged 18 years and above, for both COVID-19 primary series and booster vaccination.

The Health Sciences Authority also announced on the same day that it had granted interim authorisation for the vaccine.

The expert committee recommended the Nuvaxovid vaccine as an acceptable alternative to the mRNA vaccines in those aged 18 and above, although the mRNA vaccines are still the “preferred vaccines due to their higher efficacy and the stronger immune response generated”, said MOH.

“Boosters and vaccinations remain a critical part of our COVID-19 strategy in ensuring our population is well protected against infection and severe illness,” said MOH.

Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine is a protein-based vaccine candidate engineered from the genetic sequence of the first strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.