SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore received its first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine, made by China’s Sinovac Biotech, on Tuesday, its health ministry said, although the vaccine is still awaiting approval for use in the city-state.
Sinovac has started sending the initial data, but the Health Sciences Authority is awaiting all the information it needs to conduct a full assessment, the ministry said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Singapore is the only rich country considering the use of the Sinovac vaccine, which has been shown to have an efficacy rate ranging from about 50% to 90% in studies.
The city-state has been implementing its COVID-19 vaccination program for the past two months. Approved photos from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
The government previously refused to give specific details about the agreements reached with vaccine manufacturers.
As an island country heavily dependent on travel and trade, the Singapore government wants to boost its economy with the help of the vaccine. Singapore plans to vaccinate its entire population of almost six million people by the end of 2021.
Singapore has reported few new cases of local coronaviruses in the past few months.
Since the outbreak began, it has recorded a total of almost 60,000 infections, most of which have occurred in crowded foreign workers’ dorms. Only 29 people died of the disease in Singapore, according to the ministry of health.
China, Brazil, Indonesia and Thailand are among the countries that have approved the Sinovac vaccine.
Reporting by Chen Lin; Editing by Ed Davies