Novel vaccination technologies to combat Covid-19 and future pandemics

Global Covid-19 protocols have largely shifted towards endemic living and life is returning to normal in many parts of the world. Singapore is on its way there as well, despite the daily number of infections reaching into the thousands over the first few months of 2022 largely due to Omicron.

The harsh lesson that we must learn is that, despite decades of warning signs that a global pandemic was on the horizon, our defence against attacks by new viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 has been insufficient. The threat of another pandemic is very real, and we need to be prepared.

More attention is being paid now to therapeutics as an important part of our arsenal of medical countermeasures, and much hope is pinned on Pfizer's new antiviral drug, Paxlovid. There is also promising data suggesting that fluvoxamine - a safe, cheap, and widely available antidepressant - may significantly reduce hospitalisation and death in high-risk Covid-19 patients.