Livingstone Health appointed by MOH to procure, deliver Sinovac vaccines to Singapore

THE wholly-owned subsidiary of Livingstone Health Holdings PRH : PRH 0%, Livingstone Health International, has been appointed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to lead the procurement of Sinovac Biotech Covid-19 vaccines on behalf of private healthcare institutions in Singapore.

The healthcare provider will import and supply the vaccines via the special access route set up by the Health Sciences Authority and MOH, it said in a bourse filing on Wednesday.

In a separate statement on Wednesday, Sinovac said it will be delivering 101,000 doses of the vaccine, which will arrive in Singapore on Sept 20.

The vaccines will be available from Sept 24 at the four clinics under the group's primary healthcare arm Phoenix Medical Group, and also at 13 other primary-care clinics islandwide.

Livingstone Health said it is unable to quantify the financial effects under the initiative, noting that the take-up rate for the vaccine "cannot be reasonably determined as at the date of this announcement".

It added that it is exploring other opportunities with Sinovac, and will make further announcements when there are material developments.

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In addition, the group said its non-executive chairman Teh Wing Kwan, chief executive officer Wilson Tay and chief business officer Dax Ng have personally committed to purchase and donate up to 500 doses of the Sinovac vaccines, "in line with the nation's call to encourage and boost the vaccination take-up rate amongst seniors and the financially challenged".

These vaccines will be administered free of charge for the first 250 seniors above 60 years of age who have registered and confirmed their interest through Phoenix Medical.

Sinovac noted that Singapore had earlier procured 200,000 doses of its vaccine. MOH in August said it had allocated 170,000 doses in its stock to approved private healthcare institutions to receive the vaccine free of charge, while the remaining 30,000 doses were reserved for Singaporeans, permanent residents and long-term pass holders who have had allergic reactions to the mRNA vaccines, and for other purposes.

Shares of Livingstone Health closed 0.2 Singapore cent or 1.2 per cent lower at 16.8 cents on Tuesday.

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