A shipment of 595,000 doses of AstraZeneca PLC’s COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon, as eligibility for the seventh round of vaccinations was expanded to include people aged 23 to 28 who had registered to receive the vaccine, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
It was the seventh batch delivered under a contract for 10 million doses signed between the government and the British pharmaceutical company on Oct. 30 last year, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
The first six batches were delivered between March 3 and Friday last week, while yesterday’s 595,000 doses bring the total so far to 3.27 million doses, center data showed.
Photo: CNA
The seventh round of vaccinations had been open to people aged 29 or older who had selected the AstraZeneca vaccine in the national online COVID-19 vaccination registration system before July 19, but eligibility has been expanded as more doses have arrived, Chen said.
As of the midday deadline yesterday, 805,703 people, or 80.43 percent of those eligible, had booked an appointment, he said.
Eligibility was being expanded to include people aged 23 to 28 who had selected the vaccine on the online booking system before July 19 and had yet to receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Chen said.
Those newly eligible have from 10am on Friday to 6pm on Saturday to book vaccination appointments, which would take place on Thursday and Friday next week, he said.
Asked to confirm that the first Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shipment would arrive today, Chen said: “I really don’t know the exact time that it’s supposed to arrive, but it is close to the rumored time — and the batch is to contain more than 900,000 doses.”
Two batches of about 900,000 doses are expected to arrive, but there is no specific time or total yet, he added.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is first to be offered to students aged 12 to 17, he said, adding that schools would submit the names of those willing to get vaccinated.
The next priority would be to vaccinate those aged 18 to 22, Chen said.
Those aged 18 to 22 would need to register and book appointments through the online booking system, he added.
People in the top few priority groups have had access to several of the COVID-19 vaccine brands, so those aged 18 to 22 are to have priority access to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as so far only some of them had access to the Medigen vaccine, he said.
People who are eligible to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine in the seventh round, but who want to switch to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, must select the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the booking system if they did not book an appointment, or book an appointment from Saturday next week after not showing up to get vaccinated, Chen added.
The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, which is working to buy Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for the government, later yesterday said that the first batch of vaccines would arrive tonight.
While the CECC declined to confirm the shipment, sources last night said that the first batch would contain about 940,000 doses.
Addiitonal reporting by Lin Hui-chin
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