Inoculation of government officials with a second dose of COVID-19 vaccine should be postponed to allow more people to get their first shot, Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) wrote on Facebook yesterday.
Taiwan has thus far received 8.9 million vaccine doses, but it is a long way until all its 23 million residents are inoculated, she said.
It is crucial to allow every Taiwanese to get their first shot, she said, adding that the second doses for government officials in the second vaccine priority group should be postponed.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Tsai has worked as a nurse at National Taiwan University Hospital’s intensive care unit. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) worked as surgeon at the same hospital before he assumed office in 2014.
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) gives “important government officials necessary for maintaining disease prevention work” second-highest COVID-19 vaccine priority.
The second priority group includes 160,000 people, of whom more than 10,000 work for central government agencies, including the Presidential Office, National Security Council, Executive Yuan and subordinate agencies, as well as the CECC, Tsai said.
Central government officials who are not deployed in hospitals or pandemic hot spots, and do not deal with COVID-19 patients, should not get their second dose before frontline healthcare workers, she said, adding that the CECC should reserve the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for them.
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine should be reserved for priority group members who have not received their first dose, she said.
The government should work toward inoculating the largest number of people possible, including foreign residents, with the AstraZeneca jab.
In general, the second dose should be given 12 weeks after the first, but frontline healthcare workers should receive the second dose as early as permitted by the vaccine’s respective guidelines, she said.
No individual is safe until every resident is vaccinated, she said.
Tsai also echoed Ko’s argument that people should be allowed to receive two doses of different vaccine brands, saying that Taiwan’s vaccine supply is unstable.
The University of Oxford has studied inoculations with different vaccine brands, she said, adding that it has completed a study on the combination of the AstraZeneca and the BioNTech vaccines.
The university is working on a study on the combination of the AstraZeneca and the Moderna vaccines, she said.
Some countries, including Germany and Iceland, have approved second-dose vaccinations with the BioNTech or Moderna jabs, following the AstraZeneca vaccine, she said, adding that Taiwan should follow that example.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese