Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials yesterday urged opposition parties to put aside partisanship and fight the domestic COVID-19 outbreak together.
The call followed accusations that Ministry of Health and Welfare agencies had received excessive COVID-19 vaccine doses for their personnel at the expense of the public.
The number of local infections has been falling for the past few days, with many regions reporting zero cases, and only a few cities and counties have to work hard to control the situation, DPP legislative caucus whip Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) told a news conference.
“The Central Epidemic Command Center [CECC] has implemented a vaccine rollout program for groups on the vaccine priority list to receive their shots, while the government has been successful in procuring vaccines from abroad, so the situation in Taiwan is stabilizing and we are gradually bringing the domestic outbreak under control,” she said.
It is unfortunate that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is deliberately creating conflict and division within Taiwan by playing up certain issues in trying to score political points, Liu said.
The whole nation should cooperate to fight the outbreak for the benefit of all of society, she said.
She was referring to KMT allegation yesterday of contraventions by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
KMT lawmakers said they had obtained information that the FDA and the CDC had been given excessive numbers of shots.
The doses given to the FDA allegedly translated into an inoculation rate of 169 percent, more than enough for personnel at both agencies, they said.
DPP legislative caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said that “the KMT, with such baseless accusations, will harm the confidence and morale of medical personnel who have spent tremendous effort to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.”
The KMT’s allegation aims to shift the focus away from its own officials using their “special privilege” to receive shots ahead of other people, Lo said.
“We urge KMT lawmakers to stop vilifying the hardworking medical personnel at the CDC and the FDA, and cease partisan politicking,” he said.
Government ministries have personnel working within their departments, in addition to those at branch offices, temporary hires and contract workers, who are hired when needed, Lo said.
“There is a cap on the total number of civil servants working at the government. Although these workers are listed outside of regular personnel, most of them have duties and workloads almost identical to regular staff,” Lo added.
The FDA in a statement yesterday said that its staff are among the health ministry’s leading personnel controlling local COVID-19 cases.
“Overall, we had 1,794 people working at the FDA put on the list for being eligible to receive vaccine shots, which is all the regular staff, plus temporary hires and contract workers,” the statement said.
“Of the total, only 1,089 have received a shot, or about 61 percent,” it said. The FDA so far had three confirmed COVID-19 cases among its personnel and they are receiving treatment in isolation, it said.
It is necessary to prevent further infection, which could disrupt the FDA’s work, so there is an urgent need for all frontline personnel to get vaccinated as soon as possible, it said.
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