The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has granted an interim authorisation under the Pandemic Special Access Route (PSAR) for Nuvaxovid COVID-19 vaccine by Novavax to be used in Singapore for the prevention of COVID-19 in individuals aged 18 years and above.

The vaccination regimen comprises two five-microgram doses of Nuvaxovid to be administered 3 weeks apart. The first batch of Nuvaxovid is expected to arrive in Singapore in the next few months.

HSA’s clinical review was based on two Phase 3 clinical studies conducted in the USA, Mexico and the UK, comprising more than 40,000 clinical trial participants aged between 18 and 95 years. The results showed that Nuvaxovid demonstrated a vaccine efficacy of approximately 90% against symptomatic COVID-19 and 100% in preventing severe COVID-19.

It showed consistent efficacy against the Alpha variant, but there was no data on the Delta and Omicron variants, as these variants were not prevalent at the time Novavax conducted the clinical trials.