{"id":12567,"date":"2025-11-18T14:41:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T06:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=12567"},"modified":"2025-11-18T14:41:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T06:41:51","slug":"new-intranasal-needle-free-influenza-vaccine-now-available-in-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=12567","title":{"rendered":"New intranasal, needle-free influenza vaccine now available in Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 A new intranasal influenza vaccine is now available in Singapore for those looking to get ahead of the flu season and are afraid of needles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In a statement on <!-- -->Nov 18<!-- -->, <!-- -->UK-based<!-- --> biopharmaceutical company <!-- -->AstraZeneca<!-- --> announced the availability of the vaccine, which has been approved by Singapore\u2019s Health Sciences Authority for use in individuals aged <!-- -->two to 49 years<!-- -->. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The vaccine, also known as <!-- -->FluMist Trivalent<!-- -->, is for the prevention of influenza caused by <!-- -->virus subtypes A (H1N1, H3N2) and B\/Victoria<!-- -->. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">It is the first and only intranasal influenza vaccine available in Singapore. Other countries where it is already available include Britain and the US.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cAdministered as a simple nasal spray, the vaccine offers an immunisation route that may enhance acceptance among eligible individuals who are hesitant about vaccination,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Dr Leong Hoe Nam<!-- -->, an infectious disease specialist at <!-- -->Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital<!-- -->, said <!-- -->in the statement<!-- -->: \u201cRemoving the barrier of needles could significantly increase vaccination uptake across the population.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWhen more people are protected, we can better safeguard our most vulnerable and ease the burden of serious flu complications on our healthcare system.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Influenza viruses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/health\/time-to-vaccinate-against-influenza-heres-why-you-should?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">circulate year-round in Singapore<\/p>\n<p><\/a>, with seasonal peaks typically observed from <!-- -->May to August and December to March.<!-- --> <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Severe cases can lead to pneumonia, hospitalisation or death, particularly among vulnerable groups, such as young children, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Common side effects of the vaccine observed include runny or stuffy nose, sore throat in adults and mild fever in young children, AstraZeneca said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">It did not reveal the cost of the nasal vaccine or where it is available in its announcement. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Straits Times has contacted the company and the Communicable Diseases Agency for more information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"tags-test-id\">\n<p><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Vaccines\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Vaccines<\/span><\/button><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Healthcare\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Healthcare<\/span><\/button><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Health Sciences Authority\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Health Sciences Authority<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/new-intranasal-needle-free-influenza-vaccine-now-available-in-singapore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 A new intranasal influenza vaccine is now available in Singapore for those looking to get ahead of the flu season and are afraid&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}