In a propaganda fake news published by the state media, Singapore scientists boasts about creating a vaccine for the Wuhan virus – in a bid to shore up government confidence in the country where the virus has gone out of control.
The Ministry of Health’s chief health scientist, Tan Chroh Chuan, made baseless claims saying that the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is about to prepare a vaccine trial in Singapore.
CEPI is only a coordinator organisation based in Norway, where funds and medical advancements are collected globally and directed at research its scientists believe are worthwhile. CEPI funds all collaborations and it works with any organisation that can prove development.
CEPI has only mentioned 5 collaborations, involving Australia’s University of Queensland, US’s NASDAQ-listed pharmaecutical companies Inovio and Mordena, UK’s pharmaceutical company GSK and Germany’s company Curevac.
Singapore is not even mentioned. There is also no mention of testing the vaccine in Singapore either, when there are aplenty of test subjects and world-class research facilities in China. Singapore is also incapable of manufacturing vaccine doses, unlike the capabilities of the US-listed companies.
Neither did the Singapore government contribute a single cent to the CEPI to fund vaccine research.
The Singapore government scientist also claimed that a trial will happen in 3 months, and the state media subsequently changed it to 4 months. The CEPI however already stated on its website they aim to produce a test in 3 months, but actual production will likely take at least a year.