To cope with the overlap of COVID-19 and influenza, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Oct. 1 launched a government-funded flu vaccination program. For the first phase, parents of children under the age of six months are eligible, as are healthcare workers at preschools, childcare centers and institutes.
However, providers of family childcare services are not eligible.
Just like healthcare workers employed by registered institutes, home-based childcare providers — commonly referred to as “nannies” — are professional caregivers. Both groups work with parents to take care of children, who are more susceptible to viruses. It is therefore important to have the little ones vaccinated, but at the same time, vaccine efficacy and effectiveness in adults cannot be emphasized enough.
Not until adults are well protected can they provide proper, uninterrupted care. Professional caregivers should be vaccinated along with parents, not after.
While nursery service centers or public nursery homes play a role in childcare services, the majority of young children in Taiwan are looked after by nannies. About 27,000 nannies provide childcare services for more than 40,000 children, with about 30,000 of them under the age of two. Yet, in the CECC’s vaccination program, nannies are discriminated against, which would almost certainly affect parents who have nannies to look after their children.
It might cause a breach in the wall of disease prevention for COVID-19 and influenza.
Home-based childcare providers are indispensable to Taiwan’s childcare industry and family support. Nannies offer tremendous help to parents in dual-income households, attending to the needs of children as they grow up. Nannies make a great contribution and yet they are often neglected, becoming the Cinderella of Taiwan’s policies.
The government should include providers of family childcare services in the first phase of the government-funded flu vaccination program. To increase vaccine efficacy and effectiveness nationwide, and to make sure children receive full care, nannies must not be excluded.
Li Ting-hsin is a research specialist with the Peng Wan-ru Foundation.
Translated by Liu Yi-hung
US president-elect Donald Trump is inheriting from President Joe Biden a challenging situation for American policy in the Indo-Pacific region, with an expansionist China on the march and threatening to incorporate Taiwan, by force if necessary. US policy choices have become increasingly difficult, in part because Biden’s policy of engagement with China, including investing in personal diplomacy with President Xi Jinping (習近平), has not only yielded little but also allowed the Chinese military to gain a stronger footing in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. In Xi’s Nov. 16 Lima meeting with a diminished Biden, the Chinese strongman signaled little
On Tuesday, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) issued a statement criticizing Song Siyao (宋思瑤), a student from Shanghai’s Fudan University, saying she had offended the sensibilities of Taiwanese. It also called for the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation — established by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — which had organized the tour group, to remind group members to be careful with their statements. Song, during a visit to a baseball stadium in Taichung, said that the tour group “would like to congratulate China, Taipei team (中國台北隊) ... we wish mainland China and Taiwan compatriots can be like the team Chinatrust Brothers and
“Integrated Diplomacy” (總和外交) is the guiding principle of Taiwan’s current foreign policy. It seeks to mobilize technology, capital and talent for global outreach, strengthening Taiwan’s international connections. However, without a robust information security mechanism, such efforts risk being reduced to superficial courtesy calls. Security clearance serves as the “entrance examination results” for government agency personnel in sensitive positions, qualifying them to access sensitive information. Senior aides in the US Congress must also possess security clearance to assist lawmakers in handling classified budgets. However, security clearance is not an automatic right or a blanket necessity for accessing sensitive information. Access is granted only
The licensing of medical professionals with overseas degrees has again aroused heated debate, and many dentists held a protest in Taipei on Nov. 24. The controversy stemmed from an amendment to the Physicians’ Act (醫師法) in 2001 allowing people who studied overseas to be qualified to take the first stage of the two-stage national medical licensing exam. As more countries joined the EU after the passing of the amendment, overseas study agencies have advertised English-language medical programs in Europe, targeting people who could not qualify for local medical schools. Examination Yuan data showed that, from the late 2000s, the number
RSS