Three Taipei City Government health officials have been transferred over a scandal involving clinics administering COVID-19 vaccines to people not eligible to receive them, the city government confirmed on Saturday.
Yu Tsan-hua (余燦華), head of the Taipei Department of Health’s Disease Control Division, was reassigned to head the Zhongzheng District (中正) Health Center while the city’s Clean Governance Committee reviews administrative errors allegedly made by him and two other department officials, the department said.
Zhongzheng District Health Center head Zhang Hui-mei (張惠美) has taken Yu’s position, the department said, adding that she has experience working in the Disease Control Division.
The three officials have been under review since June 19, when an initial internal affairs investigation determined that they had potentially played a role in the distribution of vaccines in ways that contravened government protocols.
This was after Department of Health Commissioner Huang Shier-chieg (黃世傑) offered to resign on June 10, when it was revealed that several clinics in the city’s COVID-19 vaccination program had vaccinated people not on the central government’s list of priority groups.
One of the clinics, the Good Liver Clinic, vaccinated staff and volunteers at its two offices, even though they did not meet the criteria of being medical workers eligible for vaccination early last month. The clinics have been fined up to NT$2 million (US$71,454) per location and removed from the vaccination program.
Huang’s resignation was not accepted and he has been placed on leave while the investigation is under way, Taipei Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS