Moderna vaccine approved

First shipment expected to arrive in March

THE country has approved Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for use here, with the first shipment expected to arrive in March.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said its review of the available clinical data found that the vaccine demonstrated a high efficacy of 94%, with the benefits outweighing the risks.

This meant that there was a 94% reduction of symptomatic Covid-19 disease in a vaccinated group of people compared with a similarly sized group of unvaccinated people, it said.

The figure is based on a Phase 3 clinical trial in the United States which involved over 30,000 people aged 18 to 95.

The Moderna vaccine is the second Covid-19 vaccine to be authorised for use by the HSA, after the one by Pfizer-BioNTech.

It will be progressively rolled out for individuals aged 18 years and older, said the Health Ministry (MOH) in a separate statement.

The Expert Committee on Covid19 vaccination also said it had independently reviewed the vaccine safety and efficacy data for different population segments in Singapore, and has been briefed by the HSA on its full range of considerations in granting interim authorisation for use.

It added that it was satisfied with the vaccine’s safety and efficacy.

As a condition for the interim authorisation under the Pandemic Special Access Rout, Moderna is required to monitor the longerterm efficacy of the vaccine to determine the duration of protection against Covid-19.

Moderna is also required to continue following up on the vaccine’s safety for a longer period of time to determine its full safety profile.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was granted interim authorisation last year for use in Singapore.

The Moderna vaccine requires two doses administered 28 days apart, while the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine’s two doses are taken 21 days apart.

Reported side effects from both vaccines are similar and include pain, swelling at the injection site, fatigue, headache, muscle ache, fever, chills, vomiting and joint pain after vaccination.

As at Tuesday, more than 175,000 people had received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the MOH said. — The Straits Times/ANN