Senior staff nurse Sarah Lim in Singapore receives the shot (Photo: straitstimes.com) Hanoi (VNA) – Senior staff nurse Sarah Lim has become the first person in Singaporeto receive the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech.
This made Singaporeamong the first nations in Asia to roll out a vaccination programme againstCOVID-19.
The 46-year-old nurseworking at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) is among 30 staffat the centre receiving the vaccination.
They will return forthe second dose of the vaccine on January 20.
Singapore is the firstcountry in Asia to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. It has alsosigned advance purchase agreements and made early down payments on severalother vaccine candidates, including those being developed by US’s Moderna and China-basedSinovac.
It expects to haveenough vaccine doses for all 5.7 million people by the third quarter of 2021.
Prime Minister ofSingapore Lee Hsien Loong said he and his colleagues would be among the earlyrecipients of the shots.
Meanwhile, IndonesianMinister of Health Budi Sadikin said that the country will secure sufficientvaccine for 181.5 million people next year.
Indonesia has bought125 million doses of vaccine developed by Sinovac and 130 million others by Novavaxof the US.
In addition, it isunder talks for the purchase of 100 million doses each of AstraZeneca andPfizer/BioNTech.
The country is workingto obtain up to 100 million doses via COVAX, a WHO-initiated global initiativeaimed at providing countries worldwide equitable access to safe and effectivevaccines, once they are licensed and approved./.
