Singapore in talks with Covid-19 vaccine suppliers on production and distribution role

Mindy Tan

Published Mon, Dec 21, 2020 · 07:13 AM

SINGAPORE is looking to play a part in the final stages of vaccine production and subsequent distribution said Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing on Monday, adding that he is "confident" in Singapore's capabilities to not just bring the vaccine to Singapore, but also to help distribute it.

"We have plans to work with the major suppliers, not so much on the production itself - which is done in Europe and the US - but if there's a possibility for us to do what we call 'fill and finish' to help in the global distribution, we will be able to do that from Singapore," said Mr Chan at the sidelines of a visit to A*Star.

In the pharmaceutical industry, fill and finish is the process of filling vials with vaccine and finishing the process of packaging the medicine for distribution.

"Last week when I visited FedEx I found out from them the scale of the logistics operations (and) the capabilities required. We are quite confident that we have the capabilities in Singapore, not just to bring the vaccine to Singapore, but also if need be to help distribute the vaccines throughout the region, using the capabilities that we have built up all these years.

The Covid-19 multi-ministry taskforce announced last week that Singapore has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use here, with the first shipment set to arrive this month.

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