The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday doubled down on its criticism of the government’s COVID-19 vaccine policy, saying it has failed to make adequate preparations for emerging variants.
Former KMT chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) wrote on Facebook about the spread of the Delta, Delta-plus and other COVID-19 variants that are more infectious and resistant to vaccines than the Alpha variant that is dominant in Taiwan.
The outbreak that began last month shows that border controls alone cannot stop the virus’ spread, Chu wrote, adding that the nation’s reliance on foreign-donated vaccines and delays in shipments of its orders bode ill for the country.
Photo: Hsu Chuo-hsun, Taipei Times
“We have made no preparations to administer three [COVID-19] vaccine jabs or acquire second-generation vaccines,” he said. “Experts have recommended giving three shots.”
A study reported in a research letter on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine said that administration of a third dose of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine “to solid-organ transplant recipients significantly improved the immunogenicity of the vaccine,” although it did not make a recommendation about mass inoculation.
Taiwan should pursue international COVID-19 vaccine contract manufacturing orders, purchase huge quantities of vaccines and develop second-generation vaccines domestically, Chu said.
Separately, asked about some KMT members’ description of Taiwan as a “vaccine beggar,” Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) on Tuesday said it could dishearten the nation’s friends.
“Naturally, donors would feel that this is a setback; these countries would then reassess whether to provide further shipments,” he said.
KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of “politicizing pandemic policy.”
Foreign vaccine donations came at the expense of the “cries and lives of the nation’s citizens,” and are proof that the international community recognizes the incompetence of the government, Chiang said during a radio interview.
Hsieh was twisting facts and shifting blame when he should be demanding that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration obtain more internationally certified vaccines, he said.
The KMT supports Taiwan developing its own COVID-19 vaccines, but their safety should be backed by international certification, or Taiwan’s biotechnology industry would be damaged if locally made vaccines turn out to be problematic, he said.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Defense experts have warned that the ‘Shandong,’ China’s second largest aircraft carrier, poses a serious threat to eastern Taiwan’s defenses The drills conducted by the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Western Pacific last week were more aimed at showcasing China’s military capabilities to the US rather than toward Taiwan, a Taiwanese defense expert said yesterday. Lin Yin-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said the drills which involved dozens of warplanes sought to test China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities should the US and its allies attempt to interfere in a cross-strait conflict. Lin said that the latest Chinese drills coincided with a joint maritime exercise conducted by the US, South Korea
Thousands of bottles of Sriracha have been returned or destroyed after the discovery of excessive sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday. About 12,600 bottles totaling 9,991.8kg of the hot sauce imported from the US by Emporium Corp (河洛企業) were flagged at the border for containing illegal levels of sulfur dioxide, the FDA said in its regular border inspection announcement. Inspectors discovered 0.5g per kilogram of the common bleaching agent and preservative, higher than the 0.03g permitted, it said. As it is the first time within six months the product has been flagged, Sriracha products from
Two people were killed and another nine injured yesterday after being stung by hornets while hiking in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), with officials warning against wearing perfume or straying from trails during the autumn to avoid the potentially deadly creatures. Seven of the hikers only sustained minor injuries after being stung along the Bafenliao Hiking Trail (八分寮) and made their way down the mountain with a guide, the New Taipei City Fire Department said. Four of them — all male — sustained more serious injuries and were assisted when leaving the mountain, the department said. Two of them, a man surnamed
CHANGES: While NCCU opened the nation’s first co-ed dorm in Mucha, a recent survey showed that Taiwanese are in favor of abolishing gender segregation at high schools National Chengchi University (NCCU) has opened a co-ed dormitory, a first in Taiwan among state-funded Taiwan universities. The 22 duplexes are at the renovated “Huanan New Village,” in Taipei City’s Mucha (木柵) area, near the NCCU campus, a school official said yesterday. Twenty-two out of 37 group applications were selected in a lottery draw to select who would be chosen to live in the units, which can either be shared by up to eight students if the unit has four bedrooms, or up to 10 students if it is a five-bedroom unit, officials said. Completed in 1964 for campus staff housing,
RSS