Singapore was the first country to have received Pfizer vaccines. This is a good news for the island nation, and the influence of the positive development is going to spill over to other parts of Asia, as the transport minister Ong Ye Kung said he was confident that Singapore could become the centre to distribute the vaccines.
This is no easy feast. Other than Singapore Airlines Cargo’s effort to rehearse the process of transporting the vaccines from Belgium to Singapore just one week earlier, it also takes herculean efforts from DHL, UPS, FedEx as well as SATS Coolport to make this possible. SATS facilities are able to produce four tonnes of dry ice each day to facilitate the transportation of Pfizer vaccines which require -70 degree Celsius storage.
In other words, each step from delivery to storage to actually getting people vaccinated requires nothing else but science and work ethics. Territories still arguing about political ideologies and faith will have a hard time to catch up.
If Singapore manages to get most of its residents and workers vaccinated in phases in 2021, would they want to open borders for foreigners to get vaccinated? Some foreigners might have to wait longer before they could get Pfizer vaccines in their home countries. If Singapore allows foreigners to get vaccinated, the city state might get a boost for what I would coin ‘vaccination-tourism’.
And I will think about it, if there is a chance.
新加坡成為亞洲第一個收到輝瑞疫苗的國家。對於這個東南亞島國乃至於區域來說，這都是個好消息，因為疫苗接種的利好因素將擴散至亞洲其他地區，因為新加坡交通部長王乙康有信心讓新加坡成為疫苗的批發中心。
這個當然一點也不容易。除了新航貨運前一週演習從比利時至新加坡的運輸過程，敦豪國際(DHL) 、優比速(UPS)、聯邦快遞(FedEx)、新翔冷凍庫必須聯手努力才能成事。新翔設備有能力每天產出四噸乾冰以支持輝瑞疫苗必須維持零下七十度的庫存要求。
換句話說，運輸、庫存、讓人們施打疫苗，沒有要求什麼，就是要求科學精神與專業操守。那些還在為意識形態與信仰在胡思亂想的地區，想追趕上來大概會非常辛苦。
待獅城居民與工人都在2021年分階段施打疫苗之後，新加坡會大開門戶讓外國人入境接種疫苗嗎？因為有些人在自己國家必須多等一陣子才有輝瑞疫苗。若新加坡讓外國人接種疫苗，大概獅城旅遊業會受到「疫苗旅遊業」的強力支持。
若有機會，我也會想一想。