As preparations for a possible world-wide flu epidemic continue and vaccinations grow in importance, Department of Health (DOH) Officials announced yesterday plans to build a brand new flu vaccination center in the country before 2008.
Chen Ying-hwei (陳穎慧), director of the Planning Division under the DOH's Center for Disease Control, said the proposal for a vaccination center was reviewed and passed by the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) on Nov. 18.
Build-operate-own
The proposal intends the center to be based on the Build-Operate-Own (BOO) model, where private companies are responsible for building the center, manufacture of the vaccines, and the day-to-day running of the center. The government would be limited to monitoring the operation.
"On Nov. 28, we will invite companies who have the capability to build this center to a meeting during which we will explain to them all the details involved," Chen said.
Chen revealed that this would be the second meeting, with the first having taken place in July, and that over 15 companies have been invited for next week's meeting.
16 million doses
Although the center would be privately run, Chen said it would be obligated under any contract to provide 16 million doses of vaccine per year and that the government would have purchasing priority over other parties. In the case of a flu epidemic, the center would need to have the capacity to produce enough doses for a quarter of the nation's population within 3 months.
As an incentive for bidders, Chen said the government would guarantee to purchase 2.5 million doses of vaccine per year for the first 10 years, amounting to NT$4 billion (US$120 million).
The vaccination center will cost around NT$1.5 billion to build and it would be the first example of a BOO project in Taiwan.
Korean, US plans
Chen said Korea has also announced plans for a vaccination center that would provide 16 million doses of vaccine per year, to be completed by 2008, and that the US has announced plans to invest US$4 billion on vaccination procedures.
Chen added they hope to have the bidding process finished by the end of February and that bidding would not be restricted to local companies.
"Overseas companies who have shown an interest include GSK [Glaxo Smith Kline] and some Australian companies," she said.
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