Many of the people who qualified for publicly funded influenza vaccine jabs showed up at hospitals nationwide yesterday as the Department of Health’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) encouraged those at a higher risk of infection to get the booster as soon as possible.
Publicly funded influenza jabs are provided to people at risk, including children between six months in age up to elementary-school age, elderly people 65 years old and above, people living in care centers, people with severe illness or rare diseases and those working in the fields of medicine, hygiene and disease control or animal husbandry, the CDC said.
At Taipei City Hospital’s Heping Branch, about 100 elderly people and people with small children waited in line to register for the injection on the morning of the first day the boosters were administered with CDC Director-General Chang Feng-yee (張峰義) also receiving an injection as a demonstration to the public.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Influenza vaccinations are the most effective method for preventing the cold-forming virus and the publicly funded anti-influenza drive is in accordance with many other countries. To increase the vaccination rate of higher risk groups, authorities this year are targeting fifth and sixth-grade elementary-school students, Chang said.
“It takes about a month for antibodies which have the required capacity for protection to build up in the body,” Chang said, while also encouraging the first criteria target group to get the injection before late November — ahead of the peak period for the spread of influenza.
According to CDC statistics, there have been 247 reported cases nationwide of complications arising from influenza since July 1 — 94 percent of these people had been infected with Type AH3 influenza and the strain had infected 22 of the 23 flu-related fatalities which have been seen so far this year.
“The strain of virus is different from the vaccine on offer last year, but the effects should be better in preventing this year’s prevalent influenza virus,” Chang said.
The CDC said people who have the vaccination administered may feel a soreness in their muscles, experience headaches or be affected by fever, but the symptoms would pass after a couple of days in most cases.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost