Starting on Dec. 1, people aged between 50 and 64 without underlying conditions can get a government-funded influenza vaccination, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the decision was made to make more free shots available because the coverage rates for people 65 years or above and pre-elementary-school children — those older than six months — have almost reached their targets.
Due to the rush to get the free shots when the program was launched on Oct. 5, the Centers for Disease Control on Oct. 16 announced to temporary halt to the eligibility of people aged between 50 and 64 who have no chronic diseases for the vaccinations.
Suspending the eligibility of this age group was aimed at giving priority to the groups with a higher infection risk — the elderly and pre-elementary school children — and to achieve a more effective herd immunity, Chen said on Oct. 16.
As of Tuesday, about 5.45 million doses had been given, and the vaccination coverage rates of the elderly and pre-elementary school children had reached 49.3 percent and 44.6 percent respectively, he said yesterday.
The coverage rates for those two groups were expected to reach 51 percent and 48 percent respectively, by the end of the month, close to the target coverage rates of 52.5 percent and 55.5 percent, he said.
Moreover, the vaccination coverage rate for healthcare professionals has reached 72.1 percent, close to the target of 75 percent, he said.
Excluding the doses reserved for students being vaccinated on their campuses, there would be about 200,000 doses remaining by the end of the month, and an additional 60,000 doses have been procured and are expected to be available by the middle of next month, he said.
“We hope to reach an overall vaccination coverage rate of about 32 percent, including government-funded and pay-out-of-pocket vaccinations, by the end of the year,” he said.
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS