Sean Lien (連勝文), vice chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-affiliated National Policy Foundation, yesterday faced criticism for describing people who register for inoculation with unused doses of COVID-19 vaccines as “vaccine refugees.”
As vaccine vials usually contain 10 doses and must be used within a certain time after opening, the Central Epidemic Command Center on Friday last week announced that people aged 18 or older can sign up for vaccination with unused doses.
Lien yesterday wrote on Facebook that Taiwanese who sign up for the jabs are like refugees who flock to UN trucks transporting food to their camps.
Describing media reports from disaster zones, Lien said that “crowds of refugees in a free-for-all scramble grab food items. Taiwanese … have degenerated and rush [for vaccines] like a swarm of refugees.”
Amid the vaccine shortage, Taiwanese, himself included, have become “vaccine refugees,” he said, adding that many people are “fleeing” Taiwan to get vaccinated abroad.
“The worst thing is that people in Taiwan can only get the leftovers, they have no freedom to choose which vaccine brand” they want to receive, he said.
Former Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) wrote on Facebook: “The Lien family holds political power; they are the wealthy elite. Now that they have used their privilege to get vaccinated, they turn around and mock Taiwanese as ‘vaccine refugees.’”
Lin referred to Lien’s father, former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), who last month received his first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, despite not being in a priority group for vaccination.
Sean Lien’s remarks also drew ire from other social media users, with one writing that he is complaining because he could not make use of his “special privilege” to get his jab before his father’s vaccination became public.
Another user asked whether Lien Chan “stole” his vaccine dose from a refugee in need by skipping the nation’s waiting list.
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