Many countries are still administering the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, although a few have suspended vaccinations after reports of blood clots, and healthcare workers in Taiwan can choose freely if they want to get the jab, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said that a few European countries have stopped administering AstraZeneca shots after reports of blood clots, adding that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is investigating the cases.
“So far, the EMA’s recommendation is that the vaccine’s benefits continue to outweigh its risks, and there is currently no indication that the thromboembolic events were caused by vaccination,” he said.
Photo: CNA
Nonetheless, the CECC would continue to pay close attention to developments in the EMA’s assessment, he added.
Many countries continue to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, South Korea and the UK, he said, adding that the WHO has suggested that the shot should continue to be administered.
Asked if healthcare workers in Taiwan can opt out of getting the jab due to blood clot fears following a willingness survey conducted at hospitals, Chuang said: “The survey is for the center’s reference only, and whether they want to get vaccinated is still up to them. We will not force them to get the shot.”
The ratio of reported severe allergic reaction cases following COVID-19 vaccination in the UK is about 17.9 per 1 million AstraZeneca vaccine shots and about 21.2 per 1 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shots, so they could be considered “rare events” for both vaccines, Chuang said.
Separately yesterday, the CECC reported one new imported case of COVID-19 in Taiwan.
Chuang said the case is a South African woman in her 20s who came to Taiwan for work on Feb. 19.
She tested negative for COVID-19 on Feb. 20 and again before completing centralized quarantine on March 4, he said.
She moved to another residence on March 6 to practice self-health management and took a paid test for COVID-19 at a hospital on Friday, which came back positive, he added.
The cycle threshold values from the test and another test on Saturday were 34 and 37 respectively, indicating low viral loads, Chuang said.
The woman on Saturday tested negative for IgM antibodies and positive for IgG antibodies, indicating a past infection, he said.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS