First shipment of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines arrives in Singapore
SINGAPORE — The first shipment of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines landed in Singapore on Wednesday (17 February), earlier than its expected March arrival.
The shipment was carried by a scheduled Singapore Airlines (SIA) Boeing 747-400 freighter SQ7137, which departed from Brussels, Belgium, Singapore Airlines (SIA) said in a press statement.
The vaccines were prioritised for loading into the aircraft in Brussels and given to Coolport, a cold-chain facility, for subsequent storage and ground transportation, the flag carrier added.
According to tracking service Flightradar24, the aircraft transited at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and arrived in Singapore at 1.39pm on Wednesday.
The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) on 3 February announced that it has authorised the use of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Singapore for individuals aged 18 years and above. With a demonstrated high efficacy of 94 per cent, the HSA said that its review of available clinical data on the Moderna vaccine found that its benefits outweigh known risks.
On the same day as HSA's statement, the Ministry of Health said that it expected the first shipment of Moderna vaccines to arrive around March, if there were no disruptions to the schedule.
The Moderna vaccine is the second vaccine to be granted authorisation by Singapore under the Pandemic Special Access Route after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which was approved in December. Authorities have also signed advanced purchase agreements with Sinovac for its vaccine.
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