Lawmakers yesterday accused Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) of refusing to admit to risks associated with the A(H1N1) vaccine and urged the DOH to increase compensation for anyone who experiences adverse effects.
The legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee got off to a raucous start yesterday, with several lawmakers, including Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾), engaging in a heated argument.
Chen had invited two doctors to speak to the committee about the vaccine. KMT lawmakers protested the move, saying it violated legislative procedure.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Hours later, when committee members finally managed to bring the discussion back to safety concerns about the vaccine, lawmakers called on Yaung to acknowledge its risks.
On Dec. 12, the government launched a program that aims to vaccinate the entire population against H1N1. Both domestic and foreign vaccines are being used. But some people reported feeling some discomfort after receiving the shot, causing public concern.
Last week, a seven-year-old boy in central Taiwan died several weeks after receiving the vaccine. The father of the boy, a physician, blamed the shot, but health authorities and other medical experts dismissed his claim after looking into the case.
The minister expressed concern that the public might be scared out of receiving vaccines, putting Taiwan at risk of an H1N1 epidemic.
The DOH said it would step up efforts to assure the public of the safety of the shots and would consider offering higher compensation to those who experience adverse health effects.
Some lawmakers said compensation for any death resulting from the vaccine should be increased from the NT$2 million (US$60,000) to NT$10 million or more. Yaung said he would assess the proposal.
Meanwhile, on reports that military personnel had been given doses of expired seasonal flu vaccine, Yaung said the DOH was concerned and that the Ministry of National Defense Medical Affairs Bureau would address the matter.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) said receiving a dose of expired flu vaccine did not pose a health risk, but was “an administrative error” that must be probed.
Meanwhile, an H1N1 self-help association formed by the private sector was launched yesterday, with Chen named as convener.
Chen said members of the public could call 04-24724421 to report any adverse effects after receiving the H1N1 vaccine.
Chen said the CDC had set up a 1922 consultation hotline for the same purpose, but if the public does not want to call that number, it can call the association instead.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
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:
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
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not