People who have received the Medigen COVID-19 vaccine can receive additional doses of other vaccine brands if they need to travel to countries that do not recognize the Medigen jab, effective immediately, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the center made the announcement at a news conference.
Some countries require travelers to show proof of vaccination by an approved brand before boarding a flight, the CECC said, adding that travelers need vaccine certificates to avoid entry restrictions, quarantine or isolation, or in lieu of a negative COVID-19 test result.
Photo: Liu Hsin-te, Taipei Times
People who want to receive brands other than Medigen as their primary series (first and second doses) should space the inoculations at least four weeks, or 28 days, apart, Wang said.
Those who want to receive a non-Medigen brand as a booster shot should get inoculated at least 12 weeks, or 84 days, after the previous dose, he said.
People must also show proof of overseas travel, such as an electronic plane ticket, or proof of work or study abroad, to receive the additional non-Medigen doses, he added.
“We have many vaccine brands available for people to choose from, so there are different types of mix-and-match approaches to vaccination,” Wang said. “If people have particular needs, they are advised to call the 1922 hotline for a consultation.”
Asked how many people might need to get additional non-Medigen doses, he said there are more than 1 million people who received at least one dose of the Medigen vaccine, and about 300,000 people who received three doses, but it is difficult to predict how many people would travel abroad.
Some people opted for the Medigen jab, a protein subunit vaccine, to avoid the generally more serious side effects of mRNA vaccines.
Asked if people who had received the Medigen vaccine could receive mRNA vaccines, Wang said they can choose any of the available vaccines, but the Moderna bivalent vaccine is only used as a booster and cannot be their primary series.
Separately, the South Korean government yesterday said it would resume visa-free entry for Taiwanese passport holders starting on Nov. 1.
The validity period of the Korean Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA) would be extended for Taiwanese passport holders who received it between August and this month.
A K-ETA obtained after Oct. 31 would be valid for two years and up to 90 days for each stay.
The Korea Tourism Organization’s Taipei Office said on Facebook that people who are applying for a K-ETA for the first time should apply at least 72 hours before their planned departure.
The application fee is 10,000 won (US$7) per person, it said, adding that people are encouraged to register their travel information through the Quarantine COVID-19 Defense system before traveling to South Korea.
Wang said the ministry has received data on Moderna’s and Pfizer-BioNTech’s bivalent vaccines adapted for the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of SARS-CoV-2.
An Emergency Use Authorization review meeting would be held next week, he added.
A public health professor said that many people in Taiwan had received their previous vaccine dose more than five months earlier when the BA.5 outbreak began last month, suggesting that the vaccine’s protection against severe COVID-19 had fallen to below 30 percent.
Asked about the remarks, Wang said it is true that many people received their last booster about six months ago.
That is why the CECC last week expanded eligibility for Moderna’s Omicron BA.1-adapted bivalent vaccine to include people aged 18 or older, and about 50,000 to 60,000 people are getting the vaccine each day, he said.
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