Singapore may get first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine early next year
Singapore may get the first shipment of a COVID-19 vaccine, co-developed by Singapore researchers along with US pharmaceutical company Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc, early next year, according to a media report on Tuesday.
Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) is pumping in some USD45 million into the manufacture of the vaccine, The Straits Times reported.
EDB will also have the right to purchase up to USD 175 million of the vaccine at pre-negotiated prices, with shipments expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021, said Arcturus Therapeutics, the American pharmaceutical company working with Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) scientists on the vaccine.
Duke-NUS Medical School's Professor Ooi Eng Eong, who had co-developed the vaccine with Arcturus, said the results so far show that the vaccine could be effective as a single dose.
"This differentiates this investigational vaccine from many other COVID-19 vaccines in development," Prof Ooi, who is also a member of Arcturus' Vaccine Platform Scientific Advisory Board, was quoted as saying.
"The vaccine has the potential to provide important public health benefits by greatly facilitating broad administration across multiple populations worldwide," said Prof Ooi.
Meanwhile, Singapore reported nine new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the country's infection tally to 58,073. PTI GS NSA
