Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members of abusing their “special privileges” to receive COVID-19 vaccinations ahead of schedule.
DPP legislative caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said that the KMT had orchestrated a conspiracy campaign.
KMT officials misled the public by denigrating the government’s efforts to obtain vaccines, and spread disinformation on the supposed ill effects of COVID-19 jabs to sow fear in society and create distrust in the government, Lo told a briefing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
“KMT officials spread fabricated news against the AstraZeneca vaccine. They pushed these lies to make people hesitant to receive the jabs, thereby giving themselves the chance to jump the line to be vaccinated through their connections and privilege,” Lo said.
KMT Central Standing Committee member Sean Lien (連勝文) said online that the AstraZeneca vaccine had adverse effects, Lo said.
“We later found out that his father, Lien Chan (連戰), had already received the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Lo added.
“Former KMT legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) urged people to receive Chinese vaccines and publicly said that he would take the lead in doing so. However, Ting has been found to have received the AstraZeneca jab last month, by using his connections to jump the line ahead of people on the priority vaccination list,” Lo said.
Another example is former KMT legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀), who has said that Japan donated AstraZeneca vaccines to Taiwan because Japanese did not want them, and called Taiwan a “vaccine beggar,” he said.
However, “Chang himself used his special privilege to get the AstraZeneca jab at E-Da Hospital in Kaohsiung. So he took the jab that he said Japanese did not want, while he continued to accuse the government of being a ‘vaccine beggar,’” he added.
Lo also said that former KMT Yunlin County commissioner Chang Jung-wei (張榮味), former KMT legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) and other prominent KMT figures received the AstraZeneca vaccine by using their connections to jump ahead of eligible people on the priority list.
DPP Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said that Taiwan initially experienced difficulty in obtaining vaccines, and later received donations from Japan and the US.
“We see KMT members striving to get their shots. They act like the wealthy elite class, as they look down upon regular people, while using their privilege to jump ahead of the vaccination line,” Cheng said.
DPP legislative caucus director-general Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said that a probe into Ting’s case found that Cheng Hsin General Hospital in Taipei allegedly had more than 100 people on its “special privilege” list.
KMT members and other people also allegedly skirted regulations to receive shots ahead of the priority list at Good Liver Clinic and Dianthus Pediatric Clinic in Taipei, Liu said.
“The Taipei City Government has reportedly obtained these ‘special privilege’ lists. However, investigators from the city’s Ethics Department in their report did not reveal all the names. We call on the Taipei City Government to fully disclose all those who had been vaccinated,” she said.
“Medical personnel had to wait in line according to the priority list. The same goes for other people working on the frontline in contact with potentially infected people. People will not accept line jumping to get jabs through connections and special privilege,” Liu said.
“We demand that the Taipei City Government stop concealing the information and shifting the blame to others. It must make a full public disclosure right now.”
UNDER WATCH: Taiwan will have to establish a standardized nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus and monitor its spread, the CDC said The Langya henipavirus, which can be transmitted from animals to humans, has been discovered in China, with 35 human infections reported so far, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, adding that the nation would establish a nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus. A study titled “A Zoonotic Henipavirus in Febrile Patients in China” that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday said that a new henipavirus associated with a fever-causing human illness was identified in China. The study said an investigation identified 35 patients with acute infection of the Langya henipavirus in China’s Shandong
If any war were to break out between the US and China, one trigger might be the increasingly frequent fighter jet encounters near Taiwan. Almost every day, Taiwanese fighter pilots hop in their US-made F-16s to intercept Chinese warplanes screaming past their territory. The encounters probe the nation’s defenses and force the pilots on both sides to avoid mistakes that could lead to a crisis that spins out of control. “I didn’t know whether they would fire at me,” said retired colonel Mountain Wang, recounting a tense five-minute confrontation he had with Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) jets more than a decade
INCREASINGLY EMBOLDENED: China can no longer be dismissed as inexperienced, demonstrating an ability to coordinate land and sea missile systems, an expert said Beijing’s largest-ever exercises around Taiwan have offered essential clues into its plans for a grueling blockade in the event of an attack on Taiwan, and revealed an increasingly emboldened Chinese military, experts said. The visit to Taiwan by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi — second in line to the presidency — sparked outrage from Beijing, which launched vast military maneuvers around the nation, even at the risk of partially exposing its plans to the US and its Asian allies. Mobilizing fighter planes, helicopters and warships, the drills aim to simulate a blockade of Taiwan and include practicing an “attack on
RESTRICTION EASED: Passengers would no longer be directed to designated waiting areas, and be allowed to shop and dine, the operator of the airport said International travelers transiting at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport would from today be allowed to go shopping and dine in the airport’s departure areas, the airport operator said, as the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) eased some border restrictions imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said reopening borders is a global trend, and since reallowing transit passengers from June 15, the airport has continued to review its procedures to improve services and efficiency. Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, inspected the airport on July 22, while Deputy Minister of Transportation and
RSS