As news about supply issues affecting vaccination processes in Europe, concerns about Singapore’s own vaccine supplies have surfaced.

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said during a multi-ministry task force briefing on March 24 that Singapore has not seen “significant disruptions” other than an earlier short-term pause when Pfizer shut down one of their plants for upgrading works.

(Related: New Covid-19 Measures Lifted: More in Singapore Allowed to Return to Work and Attend Events)

“So far supplies have been on time and on schedule but we remain concerned and will continue to monitor the situation. It is possible that even without intervention from EU, even logistics could be disrupted and shipment could be affected,” Mr Gan added. 

“We do expect disruption from time to time. Today, our supplies are very tight. As soon as they arrive, once they are cleared [for] quality assessment, we send them straight to the vaccination centres. We keep very little stock because we want to roll them out as soon as possible to vaccinate Singaporeans.

“At some point in time, if supplies are disrupted, we may need to also suspend our vaccination programme until new supplies arrive. So I would like to seek Singaporeans' understanding that we’re actually running a very tight supply situation and we want to do it as soon as possible and as fast as possible.”

According to the Ministry of Health, as of March 23, around 1,109,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered. More than 799,000 individuals have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Amongst them, around 310,000 individuals have received their second doses and completed the full vaccination regimen.

The Singapore government has invested in a portfolio of vaccines including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Sinovac. Thus far, only the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines have been authorised for use in Singapore.

(Related: Singapore is First in Asia to Approve Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine)