SINGAPORE is in talks to obtain non-mRNA vaccines for its national Covid-19 vaccination programme, and could use these in a booster shot rollout, Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary told the House on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Republic is still working on the basis of its four-stage roadmap towards living with endemic Covid-19, even though the transition plan is on pause for now.

That's as he reiterated that vaccination "needs to be complemented by pervasive testing and safe-management measures" to control infections.

Dr Janil, who is also Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information, was replying to a slate of parliamentary questions on Singapore's pandemic strategy.

While the national vaccination programme relied on the mRNA-based Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, he noted that the expert committee on Covid-19 vaccination is looking into whether boosters can be heterologous - that is, a mix-and-match approach.

The Republic this week begins administering mRNA-based vaccine boosters for seniors and immunocompromised individuals. Otherwise, besides the two mRNA-based vaccines that are core to the national vaccination programme, Singapore is now also offering two inactivated-virus vaccines - China's Sinovac and Sinopharm - through the private healthcare sector.

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"We have a deliberate strategy to procure a portfolio of vaccines that use different technologies, to improve our chances of securing vaccines that will continue to be safe and effective against Covid-19," Dr Janil said, adding that "a few" suppliers of non-mRNA vaccines are "preparing their applications" for special-approval use in Singapore.

However, policymakers are still studying issues such as third shots for healthcare and transport workers, vaccine approval for younger children, and the need to mandate vaccination, he said.

Dr Janil was replying to follow-up questions from MPs such as the Workers' Party's (WP) Louis Chua (Sengkang GRC) and People's Action Party's Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC). 

Singapore cannot disclose more information on its inventory of Covid-19 vaccines, outstanding doses to be delivered, or delivery schedules, because of commercial sensitivities and confidentiality undertakings in its supply agreements, Dr Janil also said.

Separately, WP MP Leon Perera (Aljunied GRC) asked about the criteria for reaching each of the four stages in Singapore's Covid-19 roadmap, as well as more details on the restrictions that will be eased at each of the stages.

To that, Dr Janil called transparent and predetermined criteria "of great interest to all of us", but added: "We have decided to pause the transition plan, given the rising number of cases currently. We are not reversing course, and neither are we charging ahead."

Singapore has hit a vaccination target of 80 per cent, but planners must also consider case numbers, the transmission trajectory, adherence to safe-management measures, and the status of the testing regimes, Dr Janil said, while affirming that "we continue to work on the basis of this roadmap". 

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