Singapore has become the first country in Asia to grant approval for Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. The city-state said it expects the first shipment to arrive around March, health authorities said on Wednesday.

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is the second to be authorized for pandemic use in Singapore, after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is already being rolled out in the city-state.

More than 175,000 individuals have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday, Singapore's health ministry said on Wednesday.