People who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in other countries can register with the National Immunization Information System (NIIS) in Taiwan, but a vaccination document will not be issued, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said at its daily news briefing yesterday.
Those who have been inoculated with any of the six WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccines can go to their local health department to register their overseas vaccination record with the NIIS after they return to Taiwan, but they will not receive a vaccination document, known locally as a “yellow card,” said Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is also the deputy head of the CECC.
Those who have not been fully vaccinated can receive their second dose in Taiwan, he said.
Photo: Ting Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
The WHO-approved vaccines are: AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, Janssen, Sinopharm and Sinovac.
The atmosphere at the briefing turned a little testy when a reporter asked about the case of a Taiwanese who exchanged their “vaccination record from the mainland” for a yellow card after returning to Taiwan.
“Did you mean the person returned from ‘China?’” Chen asked. “Because when you said the mainland, I did not know what country you were referring to.”
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said that the local health department had recalled the yellow card from the person.
The CECC also reported one local COVID-19 infection and five imported cases.
The local case is a man in his 60s from New Taipei City who developed a fever on Saturday and tested positive for COVID-19 when he sought treatment on Sunday, Chen said.
The man’s cycle threshold value from his first polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was 33.1, and his antibody test came back positive with both IgG and IgM antibodies, but he later tested negative in two more PCR tests, Chen said.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy chief of the CECC’s medical response division, said the man’s fever was most likely caused by a kidney inflammation, and his test results indicate the likelihood of a previously undiagnosed COVID-19 infection.
Chen said the five imported cases are from Malaysia, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and the US.
The CECC was also asked about complaints that many Taipei residents eligible for the 12th round of vaccination could not book an appointment in the city on Monday, when booking for the first phase of the 12th round began.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Monday said that the city could only provide slots for 210,000 people to get vaccinated in the first phase, and that the CECC allowing 410,000 residents to qualify for vaccination caused problems.
In response, Chen yesterday presented a chart showing the vaccination slots opened by the six special municipalities for the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, as well as the number of eligible recipients in the six cities.
He said the CECC informs local governments beforehand how many residents are eligible in the next round of vaccination, so that they can prepare before bookings for appointments begin.
Based on past experience, about 80 percent of eligible recipients actually booked an appointment, so the center suggested that local governments arrange vaccination slots for at least 80 percent of eligible recipients, he said.
Chuang said the center had quickly coordinated with government agencies and healthcare facilities to provide an additional 45,280 vaccination appointment slots for people to book an appointment for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at five temporary vaccination stations.
The five stations are: the first floor of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the first floor of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Huashan Arts District’s (華山藝文特區) West Building 2, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall’s (中正紀念堂) Exhibition Hall 1 and the Taiwan Contemporary Cultural Lab (空總臺灣當代文化實驗場) in Taipei, CECC information showed.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS