With more controversies upsetting the nation’s fight against COVID-19, government agencies need to regain the public’s confidence. Being more transparent would be a good start.
Over the past week, several politicians have apologized for failing to prevent more COVID-19 deaths, including President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中).
They must be frustrated to see their globally acclaimed victory from last year being denounced. However, their apologies must ring hollow to the grieving families and those who have no access to rapid testing kits or COVID-19 vaccines.
To make matters worse, a Taipei-based clinic was found to have administered vaccines to hundreds of people who are not on the Central Epidemic Command Center’s (CECC) vaccination priority list. Local media reported that 1,285 people received the jabs, but how many of those were not eligible is being investigated. Some celebrities have apologized for having inappropriately received vaccinations after being exposed on a list that went viral.
The clinic is not the lone culprit. More clinics and hospitals are under investigation, including the Ministry of National Defense’s Hsinchu Armed Forces Hospital.
Whether workers in the high-tech industry should be given vaccine priority is also a topic of debate.
An allegation that the government planned to vaccinate workers at science parks to protect local chip supplies led to questions whether the lives of these workers are worth more than those of others, and if the 750,000 vaccine doses promised by the US would be used to provide tech workers with two shots each.
The science ministry on Wednesday rejected the report, saying that it would not carry out such a plan until it receives vaccines.
However, the ministry in a news release on Monday said that it has a vaccine rollout plan for more than 900 businesses at science parks, which includes setting up six vaccination stations, preparing cooling logistics for vaccines and medical personnel to assist with the rollout, and building an online registration system for workers, which seems to suggest that it might receive vaccines soon.
The CECC on Wednesday also amended its vaccination priority list to include a new category: “necessary personnel” operating key national infrastructure related to energy, water, communications and transportation. It said that agencies could provide lists of such personnel for review.
Whose work is necessary? Whose lives should be ranked lower, and how are these decisions made? Holding a daily news briefing does not mean the government is transparent enough.
More issues are testing the government’s credibility, including whether Executive Yuan political adviser Ting Yi-ming (丁怡銘) really deserved to receive a vaccination last month. Media employees who are more at risk of infection than others are not on the priority list, and at least two journalists who died turned out to have had the virus.
This wave of outbreaks possibly resulted from cluster infections among pilots and flight attendants after their quarantine rules were loosened. The privileges certain groups are given might become the burden of others.
It is futile to blame selfishness. The issue is whether there are proper mechanisms to prevent similar problems from recurring.
Instead of more apologies, the central government needs to pull itself together, improve cooperation with local governments and rearrange its forces in the battle against the pandemic so that it can lead people out of a muddle of uncertainty and anxiety.
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