The announcement was made by the the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Singapore in a joint statement on December 4.
Supported countries include ASEAN member countries of Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The donor-funded vaccine doses will be distributed in the poorest economies through the COVAX Facility that will support 92 low- and middle-income countries’ access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines.
COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organization (WHO) – working in partnership with developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers. It is the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries. The goal of COVAX is by the end of 2021 to deliver two billion doses of safe, effective vaccines that have passed regulatory approval and/or WHO prequalification.
Singapore is one of 97 self-financing participants in the COVAX Facility and co-chairs the Friends of the COVAX Facility initiative with Switzerland.
“Singapore will continue to work closely with our international partners, in particular, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to advance vaccine multilateralism and forge a global response to this pandemic,” the ministries said.
