The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday urged parents of first and second-grade elementary students nationwide to sign an agreement allowing their children to undergo free influenza inoculations in schools.
CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Chih-hau (
This year, Chou said, the inoculation program will target senior citizens over 65, residents and health care personnel of nursing homes, patients suffering from rare disorders, children aged between six months and two years, quarantine personnel at medical and health institutions and employees of livestock farms.
This year's program will also target more than half a million first and second graders around the nation, Chou said, indicating that since the vaccination is not obligatory, parents are asked to sign the agreement before the time comes for their youngsters to receive the injection in schools.
The Department of Health said the government has purchased vaccines against three different flu strains, including the Solomon Islands strain of H1N1, the Wisconsin strain of H3N2 and the B/Malaysia strain for use this year.
Influenza is a virus-caused acute respiratory disease, the initial symptoms of which include fever, headache, muscle ache, fatigue, runny nose, sore throat and coughing. Complications such as pneumonia, middle ear infection, encephalitis, Reye's syndrome and other severe infections, can develop, and in some cases threaten the life of a patient.
In accordance with the national vaccination program, the Taipei Veterans General Hospital will open a "single window" service counter Oct. 1 to Oct. 12.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
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