Singapore to get Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by end of December; plans to vaccinate all on free but voluntary basis by Q3, 2021
- Singapore hopes to vaccinate entire population by second half of the year, with the prime minister among earliest recipients to ‘show it’s safe’
- The city state is also to ease its coronavirus restrictions from December 28, allowing gatherings of up to eight people
Lee said his team would be among the first to receive the vaccine to “show you, especially seniors like me, that we believe the vaccines are safe”.
Other vaccines would also arrive “in the coming months” and there would be enough to cover the city state’s entire 5.7 million population by the third quarter of 2021, Lee added.
Lee, speaking in a televised national address, also said the city state would further ease restrictions from December 28 in a sign the country had passed a milestone in its virus fight.
From that date, social gatherings of up to eight people will be allowed, up from five at present, as the country enters its third and final phase of reopening after an eight-week partial lockdown.
Capacity restrictions for public areas including shopping malls, attractions, and places of worship will also be relaxed in phase three.