Those who took Sinovac jab will still be excluded from perks

People who received the Sinovac Covid-19 jab continue to be excluded from perks like testing exemptions as there is insufficient data to show how effective the Chinese jab is against the Delta strain, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.

Mr Ong said there must also be a differentiation between those who received the Sinovac jab and who took the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines under the national vaccination programme, when Singapore hits the milestone of having half of its population fully vaccinated.

The multi-ministry taskforce on Covid-19, which Mr Ong co-chairs, yesterday outlined how restrictions could be further eased for fully vaccinated individuals when this milestone is reached - possibly by the end of the month.

For instance, those fully vaccinated could dine in groups of eight at eateries. But people who got the Sinovac vaccine will not qualify.

"But once we reach an even higher level of vaccine coverage, we will have stronger herd protection, which means vaccine effectiveness may be less of a factor," Mr Ong said. "And therefore, in time, we should be able to also be more inclusive in allowing vaccinated people or some partially vaccinated or unvaccinated people to participate in bigger events."

People who have received the Sinovac vaccine are not included in Singapore's national vaccination tally, MOH said on Tuesday. Only those vaccinated with the Moderna and Pfizer/Comirnaty vaccines are counted. As of July 3, one dose of the Sinovac vaccine has been given to 17,296 people.

However, MOH said those who have received the Sinovac vaccine will have the record reflected in the National Immunisation Registry. It is working on showing the information in the HealthHub mobile app.

The Sinovac vaccines arrived here on Feb 23, but the vaccine has not been approved for use in the national vaccination programme. The Chinese drugmaker has not submitted data which the government needs to complete its evaluation of the vaccine's safety and efficacy. Sinovac is being administered here under the Special Access Route in order to enhance overall vaccination coverage. A total of 31 private clinics have been selected to administer it.

Mr Ong noted that people have opted for Sinovac as they cannot or are uncomfortable with taking mRNA vaccines, but added that they, too, are contributing to Singapore's resilience.

"Unfortunately, when we consult the experts, there's just not enough data to show how effective Sinovac is against Delta," he said. "I hope this data will emerge soon and allow us to make an assessment."

Those who have taken the Sinovac vaccine or other types of vaccines, and still wish to take the mRNA vaccines under Singapore's national vaccination programme can do so, though data on the effectiveness of this strategy of using two different vaccines is still lacking.

These people can be those who have taken the Sinovac vaccines locally or returning Singaporeans who have received doses of a different vaccine elsewhere.

The authorities will advise them that evidence is not available concerning how well the response would be if they had received other vaccines beforehand, and these individuals will have to weigh the pros and cons before proceeding.

"There are some theoretical benefits that may suggest that they would get good results. But there isn't much real-world data available to confirm this," said Singapore's director of medical services Kenneth Mak yesterday.

The Sinovac vaccine has shown variable protection across multiple studies carried out internationally, with the most complete analysis showing an efficacy of 51 per cent. In contrast, the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty vaccines have shown an efficacy rate of around 90 per cent.

Those who received either one or two doses of the mRNA vaccine under the national vaccination programme are not eligible to receive the Sinovac vaccine from the Government's stock, unless they were allergic to the first dose of an mRNA vaccine, MOH said.

Those who had allergic reactions can opt to get the Sinovac jab, but only at a public hospital clinic. Clinics administering the jab are required to report adverse events or reactions to the ministry and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).

Mr Ong said in a written parliamentary reply on Tuesday that two non-serious adverse events have been reported as at June 29.

Separately, the task force said the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and the MOH recently did a study of about 1,000 household contacts of Covid-19 cases between September last year and end-May and found that the efficacy of the mRNA vaccines against the Delta variant is 69 per cent.