Singapore began vaccinating healthcare workers with Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday, kicking off one of Asia's first inoculation programmes against a pandemic that has killed more than 1.7 million people globally.

Sarah Lim, a 46-year-old nurse, and 43-year-old infectious diseases doctor Kalisvar Marimuthu were among the more than 30 staff at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases who were vaccinated on Wednesday, the health ministry said.