Two shipments of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, each containing about 400,000 doses, arrived in Taiwan yesterday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, adding that one was donated by Poland and the other was from the COVAX global vaccine distribution program.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the batch of 400,000 doses donated by Poland arrived early yesterday morning, and its expiration date is Nov. 30.
Chen visited the airport and the cold chain warehouse where the vaccines were transported to for storage and inspection, along with Bartosz Rys, the acting head of the Polish Office in Taipei.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Poland’s donation makes the central European country Taiwan’s third-largest vaccine donor, after Japan and the US.
Earlier this year, Japan donated 3.34 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Taiwan and the US donated 2.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine.
Poland is the fourth EU member state to have pledged vaccine donations to Taiwan, following Lithuania (20,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine), Slovakia (10,000 doses of an unspecified brand) and the Czech Republic (30,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine).
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The third shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX — a batch of 410,400 AstraZeneca vaccine doses — arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon.
Taiwan has procured a total of 4.76 million vaccine doses from COVAX, and so far 1.02 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been delivered: a first batch of 199,200 doses on April 4, a second batch of 410,400 doses on May 19 and yesterday’s batch, the CECC’s data showed.
Chen said the AstraZeneca vaccine doses that arrived yesterday would be offered mainly to people who have received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
As the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would be offered to people aged 12 to 22, and the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine has already been offered to people aged 23 and above, the center plans to offer more than 800,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to people as their second dose in the next vaccination round, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), the CECC’s spokesperson.
Asked about concerns that students in junior-high school might receive a human papillomavirus vaccine at about the same time as they receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Chuang said that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices suggests that people get a COVID-19 vaccine at least seven days apart from other vaccines.
He said the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is planned to be administered from Sept. 23, starting with senior-high school students and later with junior-high school students, so there should be at least a two-week interval between when the junior-high students receive a dose of the two types of vaccines.
Asked if airline crew members should receive a third dose of vaccine to guard against vaccine breakthrough infections, CECC specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said that the panel has been discussing the matter, but a decision has not yet been made.
Additional reporting by CNA
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
POLLS CONCERNS: There are concerns within the KMT that a Cheng Li-wun-Xi Jinping meeting could trigger a voter backlash in elections in November Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit next month, her party and Chinese state media reported yesterday. Cheng, who took up her role in November last year, “gladly accepted” the invitation to lead a delegation to China, the KMT said in a statement, confirming a Xinhua news agency report. Cheng “looks forward to joint efforts by both parties to advance the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, promote cross-strait exchanges and cooperation, and work for peace in the Taiwan Strait and greater well-being for people on both sides,” the statement said. Chinese
SIGNIFICANT TO THE WORLD: The delegation’s visit aims to send a clear message that bipartisan support for Taiwan is consistent, US Senator Jeanne Shaheen said The US Senate’s bipartisan support for Taiwan remains strong and Taiwan-US ties would continue for decades to come, a US Senate delegation said in Taipei yesterday, while calling on the legislature to swiftly pass a special defense budget bill. A US delegation led by Democratic US Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican US Senator John Curtis — both members of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations — arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a two-day visit. The other senators of the delegation included Senate Taiwan Caucus cochair Thom Tillis and Senate Committee on Armed Services senior member Jacky Rosen. Shaheen told a news
RSS