Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine can be administered in Singapore after WHO approval

SINGAPORE: China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine can be administered in Singapore under the special access route after it was approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO), CNA reported today.

Quoting the republic's Ministry of Health (MOH), the online news portal reported that the ministry will release more details in the coming few days for private healthcare institutions to apply to be licensed providers for the Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine under the special access route.

"We are also studying the possibility for the private healthcare institutions to access our current stock of 200,000 doses, and work out details on pricing, informed consent process and safety of the patients who prefer to be administered with Sinovac-CoronaVac under the SAR," MOH was quoted as saying.

WHO validated on Tuesday the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac for emergency use.

"I am happy to announce that the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine has been given WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL) after being found to be safe, effective, and quality assured following two doses of the inactivated vaccine," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said at a WHO press briefing.

"Furthermore, the easy storage requirements of CoronaVac make it very suitable for low resource settings," he added.

-- BERNAMA