Singapore airlines are advancing towards the first fully vaccinated crewmembers in the commercial aviation sectors.
Singapore’s Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung with Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Phong Choon is urging all employees which are not limited to the airline’s cabin crews only, but also gate agents, baggage handlers, and cleaning crews of the country’s national carrier to register for the first dose of their covid-19 vaccinations with an aim of completing the vaccination of all front-line workers in the aviation and maritime industries within two months.
“Singapore Airlines will be the first vaccinated worldwide airline of the world,” stated Ong, who defined the effort as a “necessary step” towards reviving Singapore’s aviation industry and defending Singapore’s seaports, in a press convention held at Changi International Airport on Monday.
Ong added that 13,000 of the 37,000 front-line employees inside the aviation and maritime sectors had registered to obtain their shots as of Monday. The vaccinations are at the moment being administered to airline industry employees at Terminal 4 of Changi International Airport, which has the capability to vaccinate 2,000 frontline employees per day, Also, up to 1,000 seaport and maritime employees may be vaccinated each day at Singapore’s Raffles City Convention Centre.
When starting the vaccination efforts on Monday, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) stated that 7,000 airport and airline employees had been scheduled to obtain their shots by the end of the week, together with these from Singapore Airlines in addition to Scoot (a subsidiary of SIA) and Jetstar Asia.
“Vaccination is a priority for us. We’ve enough doses to vaccinate all 20,000 frontline aircrew and airport employees,” stated CAAS Director-Basic Kevin Shum in a Jan. 18 news release. “More than 1,000 aviation staff have already obtained their first dose. We strongly encourage aircrew and airport employees to come forward for vaccination.”
Singapore had earlier acquired its first batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last month. At the time, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stressed that the vaccine can be fully voluntary for the residents of Singapore, Reuters reported.
