A batch of 64,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine donated by Japan arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon, the fourth such donation made by Tokyo.
Japan Airlines Flight JL809 carrying the vaccines from Tokyo touched down at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 1pm.
Soon after their arrival, the doses were transported to a designated cold chain warehouse and sealed for inspection.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
A portion of the donated vaccines expire on Oct. 3, while the rest expire on Nov. 26, the Central Epidemic Command Center said.
Plans are under way to assist Japanese expatriates in Taiwan in getting a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by Japan if they so desire, the center said.
The latest batch brings the total number of doses donated by Japan to more than 3.4 million, more than any other nation.
Japan first donated 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Taiwan on June 4, followed by 1.13 million doses on July 8 and 970,000 doses on July 15.
The latest donation was made after Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi announced on Friday last week that Tokyo would donate another 440,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to other Asian nations, including Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, but he did not specify how many doses each nation would receive.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its thanks for the latest donation, especially coming at a time when Japan is experiencing a severe rise in domestic COVID-19 cases.
Donating vaccines when doses are being unevenly distributed globally is a true act of friendship, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said.
To date, Taiwan has taken delivery of approximately 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, about 6 million of which were donated by other nations.
The US is the second-largest vaccine donor to Taiwan after Japan with a donation of 2.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, followed by Poland, which donated 400,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
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