Those who get certain jabs will be deemed fully inoculated

THOSE who have taken the Sinovac, Sinopharm, Johnson & Johnson, Covishield or Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccines will be eligible for vaccination-differentiated safe management measures soon.

Anyone will be considered to be fully vaccinated two weeks after they have received the full regimen of Pfizer-biontech/comirnaty, Moderna or any vaccines listed on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Emergency Use Listing (EUL) starting from Tuesday, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung announced on Friday during a virtual conference.

Other than Pfizer and Moderna, there are currently five other vaccines approved under the WHO EUL: Astrazeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sinopharm, Sinovac and Covishield.

So far, only the two highly effective MRNA vaccines – Moderna and Pfizer-biontech/comirnaty – have been used in Singapore’s national vaccination programme, are counted towards the national statistics and are eligible for concessions on testing and safe management measures.

This is because the effectiveness of different vaccines varies.

So, at the initial stage, when most of Singapore’s population was unvaccinated, it was important to get people inoculated with the most effective Covid-19 vaccines, Ong said.

However, with Singapore’s vaccination coverage now increased to around 70%, Singapore is collectively more resilient.

“What is important now is the difference between those who are vaccinated and not vaccinated, and less so between different vaccines... so MOH will recognise all Covid-19 vaccines in the WHO EUL,” Ong said. A more inclusive approach can now be taken in recognising other vaccines beyond the two MRNA ones, he added.

“WHO is a widely accepted reference organisation.

“It sets a 50% vaccine effectiveness threshold for listing in the EUL, so there is some assurance of a minimum and verified standard,” Ong said.

To qualify for EUL status, Covid19 vaccine manufacturers are required to submit their clinical trial data transparently for independent assessment.