Securing early access to Covid vaccines gets Indian-origin doctor Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship!

A 26-year-old Indian-origin doctor who was instrumental in securing early access to vaccines and therapeutics for Singapore during the coronavirus pandemic is one of three recipients of the bond-free Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship, which is awarded to outstanding Singaporeans to help them pursue postgraduate studies.

Because she is from the private sector, Dr M Premikha will receive an SGD 50,000 (£29,020) allowance from the scholarship for up to two years. She will begin a one-year master's programme in public health at Johns Hopkins University in the United States later this month, according to the Straits Times (2).

Dr. Premikha's responsibilities at the Ministry of Health (MOH) from July 2021 until January this year included negotiating advanced purchase agreements with several vaccine manufacturers.

Dr. Premikha noted that the team had to consider in various uncertainties in the agreements, saying, "It was very difficult to determine the demand because when I was negotiating, we didn't even know if there was a need for a booster vaccination." 'What if we don't need the boosters?' we thought. What are we going to do about the stocks? What if we require them? Then there won't be enough.'

She also worked with Gavi, the international vaccine alliance, to send vaccines into the country through the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) programme, and coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the United Kingdom to provide vaccines to neighbouring nations in need.

The Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship was established in 1991 by the Tanjong Pagar Citizens' Consultative Committee to honour Singapore's founding prime minister's major accomplishments. It is awarded to outstanding Singaporeans to assist them pursue postgraduate studies. On Thursday, the scholarships were presented.

Dr. Hairil Rizal Abdullah, 42, and Matthew Lee Mun Hong, 32, who has worked for the government since 2014, are the other two honorees. Because their postgraduate studies are financed by their agencies, they will receive a one-time prize of SGD 10,000.