The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is to pause a plan to administer hepatitis A vaccines to children older than 12 months after the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee questioned the plan’s effectiveness yesterday.
The proportion of children younger than 18 who contract hepatitis A every year is low, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) said.
Among children younger than 18, there had only been 16 cases in the first 11 months of the year, 27 last year and five in 2015, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said.
Photo: CNA
Lin, who chaired the meeting, said that doctors have reported that while hepatitis A vaccines have been administered to children older than 12 months, they are not included in subsidies for children’s standard vaccinations, which might result in doctors being unable to apply for reimbursement of vaccination costs.
“Are doctors who administer the vaccines supposed to earn spiritual merit,” she asked, in a sarcastic reference to comments by Premier William Lai (賴清德) in October asking caregivers to look past their low salaries and regard their work as a way to earn spiritual merit.
The agency’s plan has not been reviewed by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, nor has it been assessed by the Taiwan Pediatric Association, Lin said, adding that there were clearly flaws in the procedure.
She urged the Ministry of Health and Welfare to put the plan on hold until it has evaluated demand for the vaccines and secured funding to cover the costs of sourcing, delivering and administering them.
Lin’s proposal was backed by other lawmakers at the meeting, which was convened to review draft amendments to the Artificial Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) and the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例).
Lo said he respects the opinions of the lawmakers and would reassess the timetable and costs of the vaccinations.
After receiving vaccine donations from civic organizations, the CDC on Friday last week announced the plan to administer government-funded vaccines to infants born after Jan. 1 who are older than 12 months after Jan. 1 next year.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner