Sun, Feb 28, 2021 page3

• CECC updates vaccine priority groups

  RISK REDEFINED: Thirty million doses would be needed to vaccinate people in 10 priority groups, and paid vaccinations might be allowed later, the center said

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday released a modified list of COVID-19 vaccination priority groups, adding a 10th group to the list originally released on July 29 last year.

  Six months of discussion led to the update, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman.

  “Healthcare personnel, including medical staff and non-medical staff at healthcare facilities, will have the highest priority for getting vaccinated,” he said.

  

  Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang speaks at a news briefing in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center

  Second in line would be disease prevention personnel at central and local governments, including high-ranking officials, health department officials, officials at quarantine facilities, coast guard officials, firefighters, paramedics, and officials at customs and immigration agencies, Chuang said.

  The third and fourth priority groups have been redefined, he said, adding that the original list was more focused on at-risk government employees, while the update includes other at-risk groups.

  Third in line would be workers who are highly exposed to possible infection sources, including airline crew members, crews on international shipping vessels, disease-prevention taxi drivers, quarantine hotel workers, and other frontline workers at ports and airports, Chuang said.

  In the fourth group are people who frequently travel abroad for narrowly defined reasons, including diplomats and other workers at Taiwanese agencies abroad, as well as athletes who represent the nation at international events, he said.

  The lower-priority groups remain largely the same, Chuang said.

  The fifth group comprises police officers, the sixth comprises long-term care facility residents and workers, and the seventh comprises military and social security personnel, he said.

  In the eighth group are people aged 65 and older, in the ninth are people aged from 19 to 64 years with underlying medical conditions, or rare or catastrophic disease, and in the 10th are people aged 50 to 64, Chuang said.

  The redefined groups three and four include no more than 50,000 people, and 30 million doses would be needed to vaccinate the 10 groups, he said.

  The CECC would supervise the nation’s vaccination progress, and if it finds that there has been a sufficient supply of doses for one or two months, it would allow paid vaccinations, which would be offered to “business travelers, and Taiwanese who are traveling abroad for work, study, medical treatment or other humanitarian reasons,” Chuang said.

  The CDC yesterday also published a COVID-19 vaccine Q&A page on its Web site.

  If a vaccine is administered that requires two doses, both doses should be of the same vaccine, Chuang said.

  Vaccines by AstraZeneca and Moderna can be administered to those older than 18 years, and the Pfizer-BioNTech jab can be given to people who are 16 years or older, he said.

  The CDC does not recommend the vaccination of children before more clinical data are available, Chuang said, adding that the vaccination of pregnant women is not advised.

  After getting a vaccine jab, people should rest for about 30 minutes under the observation of health officials, he said.

  CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that surveys in the US and UK show that severe allergic reactions after COVID-19 vaccinations occured after about 10 in 1 million vaccines.

  More than 1.5 million doses have been administered in the UK and more than 63 million in the US, and no deaths related to the vaccines have been recorded, Lo said.
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