Qualified staff members of Singapore Airlines to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as of 13 January

SINGAPORE: Qualified staff members of Singapore Airlines (SIA) will begin receiving the COVID-19 vaccine at Changi Airport Terminal 4 on Wednesday (January 13) as part of a vaccination campaign for some aviation employees.

Singapore-based staff members who are already on the rostered routine testing programme are available for the vaccine, a SIA spokesperson said on Tuesday.

These include cabin crew, pilots, airport-based personnel whose work requires them to communicate with travelers, and selected engineering personnel.

Participation is voluntary and all qualified staff members are “strongly encouraged” by the SIA Community to take up this bid, said the spokesman.

Singapore received the first COVID-19 vaccine shipment on 21 Dec, making it the first country in Asia to receive the vaccine developed by the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and the German company BioNTech.

SIA also said in a separate statement on Tuesday that additional steps have also been implemented for operating crew members during overseas layovers.

They will be transported on a designated chartered bus to and from their hotel during such layovers, which will be located near the airport and away from the town centers.

During the layover time, all crew members are forced to remain in their hotel rooms and must wear devices monitoring their location to ensure they comply with this rule.

During this time, they are not authorized to engage physically with each other and must also take their temperature regularly and closely monitor their health throughout their duty cycle.

“The Ministry of Health (MOH) reported on Dec 30 that a pilot from Singapore Airlines screened “preliminarily positive” for the latest strain of coronavirus circulating in the United Kingdom.

From Dec 19 to Dec 22, the pilot traveled to the United Kingdom for service. As part of a rostered periodic examination for air crew members who fly regularly, he was checked on Dec 23. The test returned negative.

He sought medical attention the next day at a general practitioner’s clinic after experiencing a fever on Dec 26, where he was swabbed for COVID-19.