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SINGAPORE – Singapore continues to seek more vaccine options even though shipments of the approved vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, are now arriving.
Having more than one approved vaccine provides the country with some form of insurance, as Singapore will not need to rely on a single supplier, Education Minister and co-chair of the Covid-19 multi-ministry task force Lawrence Wong said on Friday. February). ) during a visit to the Jalan Besar Community Center.
A good supply of vaccines will largely determine the rate of the nation’s vaccination program, Wong added.
“We are phasing out the vaccines as soon as we get the supplies, so the rate at which we can proceed with our vaccination program really depends on our supply, more than anything else,” he said.
But supply uncertainties persist given high global demand, Wong warned. He cited an example earlier this year where there were delays in the supply of vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech.
“It was not so much because of export restrictions, but because there has been an increase in global demand for these vaccines, and the company has simply had to take more time to increase manufacturing capacity,” Wong said.
Supply bottlenecks could also be caused by a manufacturing plant shutdown, an export restriction or some other logistical problems, he said.
“But now we are happy that we not only have Pfizer, we also have Moderna, so we have some diversification benefits. The supplies came in in February and we expect another supply to arrive every month,” Wong said.
However, if something were to happen that would cause the disruption of not just one, but even both Pfizer and Moderna supplies, in the worst case scenario, Singapore might have no choice but to put some brakes on the vaccine program, or even temporarily halt it. , deplete all existing supplies and continue only when new supplies arrive, Wong said.
In addition to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Singapore has also entered into advanced purchase agreements with the Sinovac vaccine from China. However, Sinovac has not yet been approved as there is still more data pending for the Health Sciences Authority to ensure that it is safe because it is licensed for use, Wong added.
“Beyond Sinovac, we continue to look for other options, so the search for other vaccine options continues. We will not stop at just three vaccines.”
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