The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced on Saturday that amid the spreading of the H5N1 avian flu, a government-funded vaccine is now available for voluntary recipients who are at high risk of exposure to the influenza virus.
Starting on Friday, the CDC began to provide a vaccine against the H5N1 avian influenza and the service will continue until the end of August, the agency said.
The CDC recommended that people who work in the inspection and quarantine sectors, medical institutes and those who frequently visit countries with reported outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu should get vaccinated against the virus.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu was detected only in poultry at first, but has undergone genetic mutations in recent years which have resulted in human cases of the infection, the CDC said.
According to WHO statistics, 620 human cases of H5N1 infection have been reported and confirmed since 2003. Among them, 367 were fatal — a mortality rate of 59 percent.
The CDC said that smuggled birds carrying the virus were found at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport last year.
Those who work in virus-screening laboratories, inspection and quarantine sectors, the poultry industry, ports of entry and those who plan to travel to the endemic regions, with the exception of pregnant women, are advised by the CDC to receive the vaccine, provided they are more than 18 years of age.
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)
‘NEVER!’ Taiwan FactCheck Center said it had only received donations from the Open Society Foundations, which supports nonprofits that promote democratic values Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC) has never received any donation from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a cofounder of the organization wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday. The Taipei-based organization was established in 2018 by Taiwan Media Watch Foundation and the Association of Quality Journalism to monitor and verify news and information accuracy. It was officially registered as a foundation in 2021. National Chung Cheng University communications professor Lo Shih-hung (羅世宏), a cofounder and chairman of TFC, was responding to online rumors that the TFC receives funding from the US government’s humanitarian assistance agency via the Open Society Foundations (OSF),
ANNUAL LIGHT SHOW: The lanterns are exhibited near Taoyuan’s high-speed rail station and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the airport MRT line More than 400 lanterns are to be on display at the annual Taiwan Lantern Festival, which officially starts in Taoyuan today. The city is hosting the festival for the second time — the first time was in 2016. The Tourism Administration held a rehearsal of the festival last night. Chunghwa Telecom donated the main lantern of the festival to the Taoyuan City Government. The lanterns are exhibited in two main areas: near the high-speed rail (HSR) station in Taoyuan, which is at the A18 station of the Taoyuan Airport MRT, and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the MRT
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would