The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has doubled the number of government-funded influenza vaccines from last year, CDC Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said, adding that the government has allocated NT$100 for each eligible person to cover vaccination fees.
Chou, formerly the CDC’s deputy director-general, replaced former director-general Steve Kuo (郭旭崧), who retired last week. Chou’s former post was filled by former CDC physician Philip Yi-chun Lo (羅一鈞).
Chou said government-funded flu vaccines will be launched on Oct. 1, adding that the number of vaccines prepared for this season has been increased from about 3 million last year to 6 million this year, comprising 5.7 million doses of 0.5ml vaccines and 300,000 doses of 0.25ml vaccines.
Eligibility for government-funded vaccines will be expanded to include children and teenagers from six months to 18 years old; adults aged 50 years and older; pregnant women and women within six months of giving birth; people with a body mass index of 30 or above; people with diabetes; and people with high-risk chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular or liver diseases.
People in long-term care facilities; people with rare diseases or catastrophic illness; healthcare practitioners and people working in the public health or animal epidemic prevention fields and the livestock industry will also be eligible to receive the government-funded vaccines.
“Vaccination is the best and most convenient way of preventing flu infection and people should get vaccinated before the flu season begins to protect themselves, their families and their friends,” Chou said.
According to CDC statistics, more than 90 percent of people who died from the flu in the most recent flu season did not receive vaccination.
Flu vaccine efficacy in adults is about 70 to 90 percent, and can reduce the risk of developing complications in elderly people by about 50 to 60 percent, the CDC said.
Chou urged eligible people to receive their government-funded vaccinations and called on companies and communities that have many eligible people to contact local health offices and request a specialist to provide on-site vaccination services.
Chou graduated from Taipei Medical University’s School of Dentistry, received a master’s degree from National Taiwan University’s Department of Public Health and a master’s degree in Environmental Toxicology from the University of California, Berkeley, and has held several government posts in public health and disease control, including health commissioner of Taipei County’s Department of Health.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of