Singapore's national airline is hoping to be the world's first fully vaccinated International carrier with its bid to vaccinate all its crew members against Covid-19.
The Singaporean government has declared to offer free vaccines to all the pilots, flight attendants, gate attendants, engineering staff members and anyone in the airlines whose job requires close contact and interaction with the passengers and with each other.
Though Singapore Airlines (SIA) encourages all the eligible staff members to take up this offer, their participation in the inoculation program is voluntary based.
The vaccination will begin in a few days and about 5,200 SIA employees have already signed up to take the jab.
"We are grateful to the Singapore government for making the aviation sector a priority in the country's vaccination exercise. This reflects the sector's importance and the crucial role we play in both Singapore's economic recovery and the fight against the pandemic," said the CEO of Singapore airlines Goh Choon Phong in his statement.
After vaccination, crew members will not have to undergo any scrutiny and will be exempt up to a limit from the new Corona virus-related security measures. Singapore is currently using the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. SIA is also planning to introduce strict additional mitigation measures for the safety of passengers and crew members during the overseas layover and ensure everyone follows the measures without fail.
Singapore has the lowest Coronavirus case fatality rate with only 29 deaths in the country out of the 59,000 cases reported. The country had won the praise from WHO for its effective mitigation plans through border closures, strict contact tracing and testing in the initial stages of the pandemic itself.