Eligibility for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is from Thursday next week to be expanded, to include unvaccinated people who are part of a priority group and people waiting to receive a second dose of the Moderna shot, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
People in groups 4 to 8 of the CECC’s vaccine priority list would be eligible to receive one of the 1.1 million doses the center is planning to distribute from the end of this month, Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is CECC deputy commander, told a news conference.
This includes people who have to travel abroad for official or essential reasons, workers employed at correctional or long-term care facilities, people aged 65 or older, military and national security personnel, and teachers and other essential workers in key industries, the CECC said.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
The Moderna vaccine has thus far only been administered to frontline medical personnel, workers involved in the government’s COVID-19 control efforts, people with jobs with high risk of infection and pregnant women.
The doses are part of 2.74 million Moderna vaccines Taiwan has received in separate deliveries from the US government and the manufacturer, Chen said.
Those who have received a first shot of the Moderna vaccine would also be eligible for a second dose, he added.
The CECC on June 9 launched the rollout of the Moderna vaccine, which requires two doses administered 28 days apart to be fully effective.
Taiwanese and foreign residents of the nation who have received a first shot of the COVID-19 vaccines by Moderna or AstraZeneca abroad would be eligible for a second dose of the respective brand in Taiwan, Chen said.
However, they would be required to present a proof of vaccination issued by the government of the nation where they received the first dose, he added.
From Friday next week, caregivers and social workers involved in the care of elderly Aborigines would also be eligible for vaccination, the CECC said, adding that the decision took into account the scarcity of long-term care facilities serving Aboriginal communities.
Reacting to foreign reports about rare cases myocarditis occurring in people shortly after they received COVID-19 vaccines by Moderna or Pfzer-BioNTech, the CECC said that people should immediately consult a doctor if they experience chest pain, shortness of breath or an unusually fast heartbeat shortly after they receive the Moderna jab.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS