Advertisement

HSA approves 11 applications for Sinopharm vaccine under Special Access Route

Staff Writer
·Editorial team
·1-min read
Doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are seen at a restaurant in Kragujevac, Serbia, May 4, 2021. At the Biblioteka kod Milutina restaurant whoever decides to get vaccinated is served a free meal on Tuesday, as a one-time offer to promote vaccination and contribute to the reopening of cafes, restaurants and bars. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
Doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine against COVID-19 (PHOTO: Reuters)

SINGAPORE — The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has approved multiple applications for private hospitals or clinics to bring in the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine via the Special Access Route (SAR) scheme.

In response to media queries by Yahoo News Singapore, the authority on Friday (30 July) said that 11 such applications, including for clinics under IHH Healthcare Singapore, have been approved as of Wednesday.

"The risks of using COVID-19 vaccines approved under SAR are fully borne by the doctor and vaccine recipient," the HSA added.

The Sinopharm is the second Chinese-made vaccine to be made available in Singapore via the SAR scheme after Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine.

Those who have received the CoronaVac vaccine locally are not included in Singapore's national vaccination numbers. As of Wednesday, 95,029 doses of the China-made vaccine have been administered to 71,810 individuals.

Under the SAR scheme for COVID-19 vaccines, private healthcare providers can apply to the HSA to bring in COVID-19 vaccines that are listed on the World Health Organisation’s Emergency Use Listing, for use by the doctors of that healthcare provider on patients under their care for specified needs.

Other COVID-19 vaccines listed by WHO are those made by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Moderna.

Currently, only the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Moderna vaccines are part of Singapore's national vaccination programme.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore

Other Singapore stories:

Tokyo Olympics: Joseph Schooling needs major rethink to change his narrative

Man took upskirt videos 3 weeks after release from prison for similar offence

Trio charged for opening unlicensed KTV joints during pandemic