The government began offering free vaccinations against A(H1N1), or swine flu, yesterday to elementary school students, preschool children, pregnant women and seriously ill patients.
It was also the first day that a locally produced vaccine was brought into use as part of the national immunization program, which was launched on Nov. 1.
The local vaccine, produced by the country's sole vaccine manufacturer, Adimmune Corp, will mostly be used for inoculating students, Centers for Disease Control Director Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) said.
He said that those listed as top priority for the free inoculations — including victims of Typhoon Morakot, medical personnel in charge of disease control and prevention, as well as infants aged between six months and one year — have all been given vaccines produced by Novartis, a multinational pharmaceutical company.
The Department of Health estimated that about 200,000 people would have received the shot yesterday, including President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Ma got his vaccination with students at Taipei County's Kuang Fu Elementary School in Jhonghe City (中和). Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chih (王郁琦) said the president wanted to prove that the quality of the locally produced vaccine was as good as the imported product.
The government has ordered 10 million doses of the vaccine from Adimmune. Another 5 million doses of the Novartis vaccine will cover the anticipated nationwide demand for 12 million doses.
Under the government-outlined order of priority for the free vaccinations, Ma is listed in the last category of healthy people in the 50-64 age bracket who can get the shot in March if there is still any government-funded vaccine left by that time.
There were no reports of serious reactions to the shot, although five schoolchildren in Chiayi complained of mild dizziness and nausea.
Chen Yi-sheng (陳怡成), director of the department of family medicine at Chiayi Veterans General Hospital, reminded those allergic to eggs or those who feel ill after being inoculated against seasonal flu not to receive the H1N1 shot.
Meanwhile, Taiwan recorded its 29th fatality from swine flu, the Central Epidemics Command Center said.
The victim was a 40-year-old Taipei County man who has been receiving dialysis for many years and who also suffers from heart disease.
The latest statistics from the center also showed that no new flu patients were hospitalized over the previous two days, marking the first time since July that the number of new hospitalized cases had remained unchanged.
Since the outbreak began, the total number of hospitalized cases has reached 592, while the number of school classes suspended because of swine flu outbreaks has reached 1,146, accounting for 0.76 percent of the total number of classes nationwide, the center said.
RSS