Singapore has received its first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines on Monday, 21 December.
This makes Singapore the first country in Asia to take in the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
The shipment was transported on flight SQ7979 via a Singapore Airlines (SIA) 747-400 freighter. The flight departed on Sunday from Brussels and landed at Singapore Changi Airport at 7.36pm on Monday.
Once the shipment safely arrived on Singapore grounds, it was then transported to SATS’s cold-chain facility, Coolport, for subsequent storage and ground transportation.
According to the Ministry of Health Singapore, the vaccines will be placed in a storage facility with capabilities to handle ultra-cold storage at about -80°C, until they begin vaccination.
“At that point, the vaccines will be thawed and transported to the vaccination site, where it can be kept in refrigerators at 2°C to 8°C for up to five days,” Ministry of Health Singapore said on their Facebook post.