A Cabinet-level task force established to prevent and control bird flu took steps to integrate the efforts of various agencies and focus on the promotion of scientific information to calm the public, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday.
"Given the simultaneous presence of avian and human flu in Taiwan, the task force will look at different scenarios and set up standard operating procedures based on each situation," Yeh Ying (
Yeh said it is understandable that health officials are worried about the virus mutating, but warned against overreacting.
"We plan to promote correct scientific information about bird flu to educate not only the public but also governmental agencies at all levels," Yeh said.
The task force will hold another meeting next Wednesday to discuss bird flu.
farmers stand up
Meanwhile, hundreds of chicken farmers in Yunlin County yesterday planned to protest against the COA in Taipei. They urged the council to ask the military and schools to keep purchasing chicken, saying many public schools have suspending serving chicken.
In addition, the bureau yesterday showed the media a set of protective equipment for epidemic prevention workers.
According to officials, every worker slaughtering chickens on farms hit by the H5N1 virus will have to wear a mask, gloves and a protective suit. About 1,000 sets of the equipment have been distributed to epidemic prevention control centers across the country.
Local media yesterday falsely linked case of flu caught by a bureau staff member with his supervision work on farms affected by the more benign H5N2 variant of avian influenza in Chiayi County at the end of last month.
At a press conference yesterday, the bureau member, surnamed Lin, checked his body temperature and sang a song to demonstrate that he had made a quick recovery.
inoculations
Meanwhile, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday it plans to begin an influenza vaccination program in September for children from six months to two years of age.
"We're still waiting for the Executive Yuan and other governmental agencies to complete the legal process, but the basic direction of the initiative would bring young children into the vaccination program," said Yan Jer-jea (顏哲傑), director of the Division of Immunization at the CDC.
Under the current vaccination program, citizens over the age of 65 are offered free influenza vaccinations.
Yan said, the policy was not solely a response to the recent bird flu outbreaks in nearby countries.
The CDC is also working on getting more anti-viral medication, but said the amount to be purchased was still under negotiation.
"Right now we have enough medication for around 130,000 people," Yan said.
"How much we buy will depend on how much pharmaceutical companies can provide and how fast they can do it. Also, we have to decide on an appropriate amount to purchase. If you buy too much, it would only expire and go to waste," Yan said.
CDC Director Su Ih-jen (
labeling
The Consumers' Foundation said yesterday that a survey of 54 markets and grocery stores in Taipei, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Taichung indicated that none had clearly labeled the source of their poultry.
The foundation called on consumers to purchase poultry with Chinese Agricultural Standards certification.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching