The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday urged the government to launch an investigation into potential risks of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which the foundation said have led to several cases of severe side effects and even death overseas.
“The Health Promotion Administration and some local governments offer free HPV vaccines to female junior-high school students, but a large number of side effects following HPV vaccinations have been reported in the US, Japan and the UK, which have had 8,000, 1,926 and 1,340 cases respectively,” the foundation said.
It said that Taiwan Immunization Vision and Strategy recommends that teenage girls get vaccinated when they are 13 to achieve maximum protection, and it predicts that the efficacy of the three-dose regime — which costs about NT$4,000 per dose — could last for as long as two decades.
However, the foundation cited statistics showing that 1,926 out of 3.42 million Japanese who completed the vaccination since the Japanese government promoted a government-funded HPV vaccination program in December 2012 had suffered from side effects.
“Among them, 101 experienced severe side effects and one died,” the foundation said, adding that the Japanese government has initiated an investigation into the incidents.
In the UK, while most of the HPV vaccine recipients exhibited only mild symptoms following the injections, such as fever, nausea, dizziness and muscle weakness, there are reports that 20 young women experienced blurred vision, four suffered from spasms, one developed facial paralysis and one suffered paralysis on the right side of her body, the foundation said.
US authorities are yet to rule out the HPV vaccination as being responsible for the deaths of 10 young girls, it added.
In response, HPA Cancer Prevention and Control Division Director Wu Chien-yuan (吳建遠) said hospitals and clinics have been instructed to inform vaccine recipients of all the potential side effects from the HPV vaccine, adding that only 100 of the more-than 16,000 Taiwanese who have been vaccinated so far had reported side effects.
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
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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