Singapore opens coronavirus vaccinations to over 45s, warns of potential disruptions as EU tightens grip on exports

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong encourages Singaporeans to ‘get vaccinated as soon as possible’ to head off any potential supply disruptions in future

Meanwhile, government denies it felt unable to turn down a batch of China’s Sinovac because it did not want to upset Beijing; says early delivery was fulfilment of an advanced purchase agreement

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A doctor is vaccinated at Gleneagles hospital in Singapore. File photo

Published: 8:37pm, 24 Mar 2021Updated: 8:39pm, 24 Mar 2021

Singapore on Wednesday announced it was expanding its vaccination programme from seniors to everyone above the age of 45 as its Health Minister Gan Kim Yong warned that supplies were “very tight” and the vaccination drive could face disruptions “from time to time”.

The city state, which has given shots to 14 per cent of its 5.7 million population using the vaccines developed by both BioNTech and Moderna, gave the update as Hong Kong suspended vaccinations using the BioNTech vaccine. The move in Hong Kong followed the discovery of packaging defects on a batch of the BioNTech vaccine, which is distributed in the city by the Shanghai firm Fosun Pharma. However, the BioNTech vaccine in Singapore is distributed by Pfizer.

Gan, who is also co-chair of the multi-ministry task force set up to deal with the virus, said Singapore was closely watching developments in Europe, where the European Union has been tightening rules on vaccine exports amid a third wave of the outbreak. The EU has said it is considering blocking exports of vaccines to countries with high vaccination rates. So far, the EU has approved the export of 1.5 million vaccine doses.

Authorities for the first time explained why Singapore had in February received a batch of 200,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine from China even before it was approved for use in the city state.

Pedestrians in Singapore at the Raffles Place financial business district. Photo: AFP

Gan in a press conference said there had been “no significant disruption” to Singapore’s vaccine supplies so far but added that there was “very little stock” to cover any potential disruption because the country sent doses straight to vaccination centres as soon as they cleared quality control.

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