The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday issued an emergency call to stop issuing a flu vaccine in seven counties and cities after the Taipei Department of Health on Wednesday reported a discolored dose.
The suspension affects the Vaxigrip brand of trivalent flu vaccine manufactured by Lyon, France-based Sanofi Pasteur of the same lot number, the CDC said.
The government has prepared 6 million doses for this year’s free flu shot program, which hospitals began administering on Oct. 15, the centers said, adding that Vaxigrip is one of the two vaccines it uses.
Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control
The other type, AdimFlu-S, is manufactured by Taiwan-based Adimmune Corp (國光生技), it said.
A Taipei-based medical worker administering flu shots at a mobile vaccination station saw that the vaccine in one of the syringes had a brownish color, while normal vaccines are transparent, the CDC said, adding that the discolored vaccine was not administered.
CDC officials inspected the Vaxigrip stock at its storage facility and did not find any other vaccine with abnormal coloring.
The nation has imported 300,000 Vaxigrip doses, with about 190,000 syringes having already been distributed to health centers in Taipei, New Taipei City, Hsinchu city and county, as well as Taoyuan, Taichung and Miaoli County, while about 100,000 syringes were still in storage, the centers said.
As of yesterday afternoon, more than 32,000 Vaxigrip doses had been administered, it said.
CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said this was the first time that the centers had seen discoloration of an influenza vaccine.
The centers would return the discolored vaccine to Sanofi Pasteur for further analysis and all vaccines in the batch are to be placed on hold until the company has finished its probe, Chuang said.
The Food and Drug Administration said it has asked Sanofi Pasteur to report the vaccines as defective and explain the discoloration as soon as possible.
Sanofi Pasteur in a statement said that the discolored sample was being delivered to the company’s headquarters for analysis.
As there are no reports of similar incidents with the company’s other vaccines, Sanofi Pasteur said it was regarding the case as an isolated incident.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS