Public willingness to receive A(H1N1) influenza vaccination shots seems to have increased after intensified promotional efforts.
Figures released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) show that more than 40,000 people got vaccinated in the 24 hours between 10am on Wednesday and yesterday.
“The number has rebounded almost to the average level recorded last week,” CDC Director-General Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) said.
The immunization program almost came to a standstill early this week amid reports of the death of a boy allegedly related to A(H1N1) vaccination and a spate of cases involving patients suffering serious side effects from the shots.
In the face of mounting concern about the safety of locally produced vaccine and scathing criticism from opposition lawmakers of the immunization policy, as well as worries about a relapse of infections because of rising public resistance to inoculation, DOH Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) was reduced to tears during a Legislative Yuan committee hearing on Wednesday.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), meanwhile, said his appearance in a DOH-produced film urging people to get vaccinations represents his support for the government’s immunization policy, not an effort to help promote the Adimmune vaccine.
His remarks came after other DPP legislators criticized him for backing the Adimmune vaccine after reports of side effects.
“While I’m willing to take the risk by getting an Adimmune vaccine shot to back the immunization policy, I have never encouraged other people to follow suit,” he said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
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A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all