Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Yin Ling-ying (
"While the CDC thinks it has a very strong strategy against the flu with the provision of anti-viral medication and the newest vaccines, the limitations they are placing on funding for vaccinating administrative staff in local clinics is a crucial flaw," Yin said at a press conference.
The new policy allows only one administrative staff member per clinic to be immunized, which contrasts with 2003 and last year when no limitations were placed on vaccinations for basic-level staff.
Chen Mong-hsiung (
"When have you ever seen one member of administrative staff at a clinic? One doctor, yes; but one administrative staff member -- impossible," Chen said.
Chen added that work for administration staff was often shift work, which meant that there were several members staff would be on duty every day.
According to Yin, the Taiwan Medical Association has visited the CDC on two separate occasions -- Sept. 7 and Sept. 23 -- to protest the cutback, but to no avail.
"If the CDC continues to be so stubborn and an irrevocable tragedy occurs, then they will have to be held responsible," Yin said.
In 2003 and last year, the rate of vaccination for staff in hospitals and clinics, as well as other health professionals, was 92.1 percent and 88.1 percent respectively.
This year, statistics from Yunlin County show that compared to 758 administrative staff who were immunized last year, only 298 have been registered to receive vaccines, or 39.3 percent of staff members.
While vaccinations are limited for basic-level staff in local clinics, there are no such limitations for administrative staff working in large hospitals.
Chen said that administrative staff in small-scale clinics were actually in more danger as they were in an open office, in direct contact with patients, compared with administrative staff in big hospitals, who work in separate rooms.
In response, the section head of the CDC, Chen Shu-fen (陳淑芳), who was also present at the press conference, said that, "Taking into account the government's means, our priority is to look after those who are in the first line of danger."
As no conclusion was reached yesterday, Yin requested that a meeting between the CDC and the Taiwan medical association take place within a week so that a new policy on vaccinations for basic-level staff can be negotiated.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift