The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday filed a lawsuit against Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) alleging corruption in the decision to issue an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Medigen Vaccine Biologic Corp (高端疫苗生物製劑).
The FDA had bypassed standard procedures and, in broad defiance of public and international opinion, decided to approve the vaccine, the KMT said.
Citing FDA data, KMT caucus secretary-general Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that Medigen started producing vaccines last month, before it received the EUA, which is evidence that the company was given assurances that its vaccine would be approved and made available for use by next month.
Photo: CNA
“We have become the only nation to approve an EUA for a vaccine that has not passed phase 3 clinical trials,” Cheng said.
Medigen yesterday said that it had received approval to conduct phase 3 clinical trials on 1,000 people in Paraguay.
KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) cited the vaccine approval process in the US, saying that the process is recorded and that its review processes are transparent.
Taiwan, on the other hand, had not recorded the review process, he said, adding that the public does not know who attended the meeting, or what kind of opposition was voiced.
“We have set the lowest bar for vaccine approval worldwide,” Chiang said.
KMT Disciplinary Committee director Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元), who is the party’s legal representative, said that the procedures to approve domestic vaccines went against past practice, despite Taiwan having access to international vaccines and having no immediate need for them.
The FDA was guilty of corruption as it forced through the approval of the EUA by replacing half of the academics on the panel of specialists, Yeh said.
In response, Democratic Progressive Party caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said that the legislature would declassify and make public the minutes of the specialists’ meeting within two weeks.
At the specialists’ meeting, 18 members voted to approve the vaccine, one voted for further discussion after asking for more information and one voted to not approve the vaccine, Wu said on Monday, adding that the convener of the meeting was not allowed to vote.
Under the EUA, the company must provide a safety report every month, she said.
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new