Taiwanese will not be required to pay for swine flu vaccine, a health official said yesterday.
“The free-of-charge policy is aimed at encouraging people to receive inoculation as soon as possible when the vaccination program is launched next month,” Centers for Disease Control Deputy Secretary-General Chou Chih-hau (周志浩) said.
Chou said the Department of Health (DOH) would offer a subsidy of NT$150 per capita to local healthcare institutions that offer swine flu vaccination.
“The amount is enough to cover registration and medical examination fees for each person who receives swine flu inoculation at designated hospitals, clinics or health centers,” Chou said.
As more than 10 million people will be receiving vaccines in the coming months, Chou said the subsidy program for swine flu vaccination was expected to help speed up completion of the program.
The department said 5 million doses imported from Switzerland-based pharmaceutical firm Novartis will be available for high-risk individuals at the end of this month, while 10 million doses will be supplied by local manufacturer Adimmune Corp (國光生技), which will be ready early next month.
The two suppliers will deliver the doses in staggered shipments.
The department’s priority list for swine flu vaccination puts people in typhoon-hit areas first, followed by medical personnel in charge of disease control and prevention, and pregnant women.
They are followed by pre-school children, seriously ill individuals, elementary, junior and senior high school students, individuals in the 19-to-24 age bracket and those over 25 at high risk of cardiopulmonary disease, healthy people in the 25-49 age bracket, and those between the ages of 50 and 64.
Meanwhile, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday that five more patients had been hospitalized for severe swine flu symptoms in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of hospitalizations to 319 since the outbreak began.
Of that number, 21 have died, 28 are still being treated in local hospitals, while the remainder have been discharged after recovery.
The five new patients included one male and four females, aged between four and 42.
A CECC official said the center was closely monitoring the situation in the wake of the Mid-Autumn Festival on Saturday.
“Temperatures went down in recent days and human interaction increased for the Mid-Autumn Festival. We are trying to determine whether this will have an impact on the situation,” the official said.
RSS