People who are eligible for inoculation in the seventh round of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccinations can book an appointment from 10am today, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported no local cases for the third time this week.
Although the CECC yesterday reported no new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections or deaths from the virus, the center has received a report of a confirmed case in New Taipei City yesterday morning and contact tracing is ongoing, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said, adding that the case would be included in today’s count.
Chen, who heads the center, said that eligible recipients include two groups of people who selected the AstraZeneca vaccine in the nation’s online COVID-19 vaccination booking system before July 17 and have not yet been inoculated.
Photo: CNA
They are people older than 28 (born before 1993) and members of the ninth COVID-19 vaccination priority group who are 18 years or older (born on or before Sept. 3, 2003), he said.
The booking system would be open until 12pm on Tuesday, Chen said, adding that appointment slots for vaccionations would be available from Friday to Sept. 10.
People who wish to change their preference to the newly available Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine could do so in the online booking system after 4pm on Tuesday, Chen said, adding that they could only make changes if they did not book an appointment.
People over 18 who wish to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can register their preference since 2pm yesterday, Chen said.
The booking system’s server was temporarily overloaded as more than 370,000 people tried to log in at 2pm yesterday, the center said.
People aged 12 to 17 do not need to register for vaccination online, as schools would provide the CECC with lists of eligible students, with vaccinations planned to take place on campuses, he said.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy chief of the CECC’s medical response division, said that information sheets and parental consent forms would be given to parents whose children are eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Lo said that the vaccine’s common side effects in adolescents are dizziness, nausea and a headache, as well as a fever, which was reported by 10 to 20 percent of recipients.
Myocarditis and pericarditis have rarely occurred after inoculation with vaccines using messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology, such as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Lo said, adding that symptoms of these conditions are chest tightness and difficulty breathing.
They occurred more commonly in young males than in females, Lo said.
The materials to be given to parents would inform them about side effects, Lo said, urging parents to check whether their children are allergic to any of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine’s ingredients.
Parents should consult a doctor if their children have underlying health conditions or do not feel well before consenting to the vaccination, he said.
On Friday, 182,996 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered, bringing the nation’s first-dose coverage rate to 42.22 percent, Chen said.
The vaccination appointment attendance rate for the Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗) COVID-19 vaccine declined from 92.8 percent on Monday, to 90.2 percent on Tuesday, 87.1 percent on Wednesday and 82.6 percent on Thursday, he said.
Meanwhile, a fatality from COVID-19 was reported on a Panamanian cargo ship, whose captain tested positive after his death, Chen said, adding that the fatality has not yet been included in the nation’s numbers, as the cause of death is under investigation.
The vessel docked at the Port of Taichung on Wednesday and departed for Japan the following day, the CECC said.
The Coast Guard Administration’s Fleet Branch in the evening received a call from the ship outside the Port of Taipei, asking for emergency assistance, as the captain had developed a fever.
The captain was taken to a hospital, where he died on Friday, the center said.
Six imported cases were reported yesterday, CECC data showed.
Among them, four people who tested positive were fully vaccinated — two with the AstraZeneca vaccine and one each with China’s Sinopharm (國藥控股) COVID-19 vaccine and India’s Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine, Lo said, adding that the four cases are considered breakthrough infections.
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