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), said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday (Jun 2).
MOH had announced on Monday that through the special access route, private healthcare institutions will be able to bring in unregistered COVID-19 vaccines.
These vaccines must be on WHO's emergency use listing and they include the ones from Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm.
The Sinovac vaccine was approved by the WHO on Tuesday. Although Singapore has received supplies of the Sinovac doses, the vaccine has not been approved for use by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).
It has only given the green light to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which are both based on mRNA technology.
The mRNA vaccines, however, are not suitable for people with a history of severe allergic reactions such as anaphylaxis and for immunocompromised individuals.
On Wednesday, MOH said it 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," said MOH in response to media queries.