S’pore in talks with key Covid-19 vaccine suppliers on ‘fill and finish’ production, regional distribution role: Chan Chun Sing
In his live televised address to the nation last week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that several pharmaceutical firms have established vaccine manufacturing capabilities in Singapore.
SINGAPORE — Singapore is in talks with major suppliers of Covid-19 vaccines on the possibility of being a regional distributor and playing a part in the final stages of vaccine production, said Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing.
“We have plans to work with the major suppliers, not so much on the production itself — which is done in Europe and the United States — but if there's a possibility for us to do what we call ‘fill and finish’ to help in the global distribution,” Mr Chan said on Monday (Dec 21) on the sidelines of a visit to the Agency for Science, Technology and Research.
Fill and finish refers to the process of filling vials with a vaccine and packaging it for distribution. It is common for vaccine manufacturers to use third parties to fill and package their vaccines.
Mr Chan did not say which pharmaceutical firms Singapore was in talks with. TODAY has sent queries to the Ministry of Health.
Mr Chan’s comments came a week after Singapore’s authorities announced that the country had approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use here, with the first shipment set to arrive this month.
Mr Chan said that he visited logistics company FedEx last week and found out about the scale needed for vaccine distribution.
“We are quietly confident that we do have the capabilities in Singapore, not just to bring the vaccine in... but also, if need be, to help distribute the vaccines to the region,” he said.
In his live televised address to the nation last week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that several pharmaceutical firms have established vaccine manufacturing capabilities in Singapore.
He added that the Government was also supporting vaccine development efforts here as an “insurance”, in case global supply chains were disrupted.
.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }Earlier this month, Changi Airport said that it was ready to distribute Covid-19 vaccines into Singapore and the region once the vaccines are approved.
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said then that the air cargo hub has good cold-chain handling infrastructure and capabilities as well as strong air connectivity. These would allow vaccines to be delivered to multiple destinations based on demand.
Cold-chain capabilities are crucial since the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine must be stored at -70°C, while the Moderna vaccine, another frontrunner, has to be kept at -20°C.
Moderna has also reached an agreement with the Singapore Government to supply its vaccine here.
