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SINGAPORE – The first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Singapore, a crucial first step in vaccinating the population.
The vaccine, the first shipment of its kind to reach Asia, was carried by a Singapore Airlines (SIA) Boeing 747-400 freighter, SQ7979.
The flight had departed Brussels, Belgium, on Sunday (December 20) and landed at Changi Airport around 7:30 p.m. on Monday (December 21).
The shipment was prioritized for loading onto the plane in Brussels, as well as during unloading in Singapore, SIA said.
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung, Mr Kevin Shum, the Managing Director of the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority and the CEOs of the Changi Airport Group and SIA were among those who showed up at the airport to witness the arrival of the vaccine.
Ground operator Sats moved the vaccines to its Sats Coolport cold chain facility before loading them onto a refrigerated truck that will send them to an off-site storage facility.
Speaking to reporters at the facility, Ong said: “We are ready to do this and a lot of preparatory work has been done to make this as smooth as possible.”
SIA had conducted a successful trial to test its vaccine handling capabilities along the same cargo flight route on Dec. 19, the airline said.
He conducted the test with portable coolers used to package the actual vaccine and tracked the internal temperature inside these boxes throughout the flight. He also monitored the rate at which the dry ice inside the box was converted to carbon dioxide.
SIA Senior Vice President of Cargo Chin Yau Seng said the airline is honored to be able to play its role in a major milestone in the fight against Covid-19.
“It also served to demonstrate the readiness of the SIA and Singapore Air Center for the important work of transporting and distributing Covid-19 vaccines internationally,” he said.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the first Covid-19 vaccine approved by the Health Sciences Authority in Singapore. There are no details yet on how it will be implemented.
The vaccine is already being administered in countries such as Great Britain, Canada and the United States.
Singapore is one of the first countries to get the vaccine and other vaccines are expected to arrive in the coming months, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced last week.
Vaccinations will be offered free of charge and voluntarily to all Singaporeans and long-term residents currently here.
Priority will be given to healthcare and front-line workers, as well as elderly and vulnerable patients.
If all goes according to plan, there will be enough vaccinations for everyone in Singapore by the third quarter of 2021.
The Republic has also strengthened its capacity to store and transport Covid-19 vaccines and is positioning itself to be a hub for the movement of Covid-19 vaccines to the region.
Shipments from Europe are expected to pass through Singapore into Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific when broader regulatory approval is obtained.
The Singapore Civil Aviation Authority and the Changi Airport Group have created a working group to work on the vaccine shipment process. The working group consists of 18 members in the air cargo sector, including SIA and ground operators Sats and dnata.
The logistics company DHL Global Forwarding, a division of the German logistics giant DHL, said it had organized the collection of the vaccines from the manufacturing site at Puurs in Belgium. The vaccine shipment was accompanied by security escorts on the road to Brussels airport.
DHL will also handle the final delivery of the vaccine to the designated location in Singapore, he said.
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