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.
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