SINGAPORE: Singapore is looking to shoulder some of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) work when Disease X – the next deadly pandemic – strikes, by joining the ranks of countries that can help speed up the vaccine approval process, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.
This would involve the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) stepping up as a regulator to approve new vaccines during outbreaks.
Pointing to Covid-19, Ong said that the approval process for new vaccines could become a bottleneck as they all had to be certified by WHO.
“So our proposal to WHO is that we don’t need WHO to do all the work itself,” Ong said.
Instead, he suggested, it could rely on the network of the most reputable regulatory authorities around the world, from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the European Union’s European Medicines Agency, among others. This is a network which Singapore would like to be part of as well.
He was speaking to The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao ahead of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response in New York on Sept 25.
The minister also spoke at an event in New York organised by the Ministry of Health and Hilleman Laboratories, a Singapore-based vaccine research and development organisation.
“Singapore (would) like to be part of it. We are certified at the highest maturity level for medical devices and drugs, not yet for vaccines,” Ong added.
HSA is the first national authority assessed by WHO at maturity Level 4 for medical device regulation, and it is a WHO-listed authority for medicines.
Maturity Level 4 is the highest classification given by WHO to a country’s national regulatory system, and establishes it as a global reference agency which other regulators can rely on.
“I think we want to get maturity Level 4 for vaccines as well, then we can be part of this network to have swift regulatory approval for use during an emergency,” he said.
As Singapore expands vaccine manufacturing, HSA will hence work towards the corresponding WHO benchmarking and listing for vaccines.
“Vaccines must be evaluated, approved and deployed quickly without compromising safety and quality. During a crisis, we are in a fog of war, and regulators operate with urgency and incomplete information. Trust built in peacetime allows authorities to rely on one another’s assessments, share workloads and reduce duplication, while each jurisdiction retains responsibility for its own decisions,” he added.
Singapore also needs to support the surveillance and detection of dangerous pathogens early, alongside vaccine regulation, building vaccine-manufacturing capabilities in Singapore, and supporting the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations’ mission to develop safe, effective and accessible vaccines for initial authorisation and manufacturing.
On surveillance, Singapore works closely with and actively contributes to GISAID, a non-profit organisation which runs a platform for scientists and governments to share genomic data of pathogens.
GISAID is the largest international source of genomic data for influenza, Covid-19 and mpox, and it is expanding to include other pathogens of importance, including Ebola.
Much of that data is processed here by A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), and GISAID has said genetic sequences will be accessible to the public immediately.
Data sharing allows for early detection of dangerous pathogens around the world that have been picked up by surveillance systems.
Ong, who is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, said the value of this approach was recently showcased when Singapore detected a novel SARS-CoV-2 recombinant in July through its routine genomic surveillance.
A patient who had mild illness was found to be infected with this recombinant. The patient has since recovered and no further local cases were detected.
At the time of assessment, it was the only such sequence detected locally, with no closely matching sequence identified in GISAID, which means no other very similar cases had been detected globally.
Ong said that he was informed about this only days later, after the scientific process was under way – and that this should be the case, given “public health surveillance must be professional, timely and transparent”.
He noted that when a country reports an unusual pathogen, it may worry about reputational or economic consequences. But it is important to not delay reporting.
Instead, it is to build international norms that recognise transparency as responsible conduct, which could well be the way that a new disease will be discovered.
Ong said Singapore’s current capabilities are part of the new plan to have the Republic – a small and globally connected country – contribute to the world’s pandemic preparedness, so as to address uneven access to vaccines.
He called the plan “a backstop that leverages global networks and co-operation, should regional efforts stall during an emergency”. It works hand-in-hand with two existing global plans.
The first is the unifying global framework for preparedness and equitable access to vaccines through the WHO’s pandemic fund, and as laid out in WHO’s pandemic agreement. Though it was adopted in May 2025, details on pathogen access and benefits-sharing are still being sorted out.
The second is to build sustainable regional vaccine-manufacturing resilience, a highly complex task.
On this front, Singapore has attracted and anchored several flexible production facilities which can produce mRNA vaccines here, with the help of the Economic Development Board.
More equitable vaccine access and continuously maintaining trust, even outside periods of crisis, were among key findings relevant to Singapore, according to a report released on Sept 21 at a UNGA side event.
The report was put together by the Pandemic Readiness through Institutions, Mobilising Communities and Equity (PRIME) Commission, established by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and leading academic journal The Lancet.
“Singapore is already engaging in many of the key activities necessary for the next outbreak... the most important immediate next step is to ensure that Singapore does not relax its focus on pandemic preparedness, that the key policy and public health leaders remain vigilant and prepared for the next outbreak,” said co-author of the report Teo Yik Ying, NUS’ vice-president for global health.
Teo also urged Singapore to continuously monitor whether fake news and irresponsible statements about vaccines are gaining traction in the community, and to proactively address dangerous misinformation, despite the nation having a considerably smaller challenge with vaccine hesitancy.
He noted that the report highlighted that the very best policy intentions are sometimes ineffective due to a lack of trust, poor communications and inadequate coordination in the community.
To tackle misinformation and maintain trust calls for close partnership between community leaders, journalists and media outlets, and government policymakers, said Teo, who is also the dean of the NUS’ Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. - The Straits Times/ANN
