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.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS