Up to 4.4 million doses of three COVID-19 vaccine brands are to be administered in the 12th round of vaccinations between Friday next week and Nov. 3, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, adding that 1.36 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine was to arrive in Taiwan yesterday in the afternoon.
The center reported four imported COVID-19 cases — arrivals from Indonesia, the Philippines and the US — but no local cases or deaths.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy chief of the CECC’s medical response division, said that three imported cases were vaccine breakthrough infections.
Two infected travelers had received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and one had received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Lo said.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the 1.36 million AstraZeneca vaccines in yesterday’s shipment are to expire on Jan. 31 next year.
The vaccines are part of an order of 10 million doses made directly with the drugmaker, of which 6.38 million doses have so far arrived in 11 shipments, CECC data showed.
“With the latest shipment, we will be able to nearly meet the nation’s demand for second-dose AstraZeneca vaccinations,” Chen said.
For the 12th round, Taiwan has a stock of 1.6 million doses, including 235,000 donated by Lithuania, Chen said.
The round would include three vaccine brands — the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for first-dose vaccinations, and the AstraZeneca and the Moderna vaccines for second doses, Chen said, adding that the round would have two phases.
In the first round, unvaccinated people aged 30 or older (born on or before Dec. 31, 1991) would be eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, he said.
Moreover people aged 38 or older (born on or before Dec. 31, 1983) who have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on or before July 30, and people aged 55 or older (born on or before Dec. 31, 1966) who have received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine on or before July 16 would be eligible for second doses of the respective brands, he said.
The booking platform would open for Pfizer-BioNTech vaccinations at 10am on Monday, for AstraZeneca vaccinations at 10am on Tuesday and for Moderna vaccinations at 2pm on the same day, he said, adding that the platform would close at 12pm on Wednesday.
Vaccine appointments would be between Friday next week and Oct. 27, Chen said.
In the second phase, unvaccinated people aged 23 or older (born on or before Dec. 31, 1998) would be eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and people aged 18 or older (born on or before Dec. 31, 2003) who have received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine on or before July 16 would be eligible for the second dose of the same brand, he said.
Moreover, people aged 18 or older (born on or before Oct. 28, 2003) who have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on or before July 30 and people aged 45 or older (born on or before Dec. 31, 1976) who received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine between July 31 and Aug. 6 would be eligible for second doses of the same brand, Chen said.
The booking platform would open at 10 am on Oct. 25 for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, and at 10am on Oct. 26 for the AstraZeneca vaccine, he said, adding that the platform would close at 12pm on Oct. 27.
Doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech would be administered between Oct. 28 and Oct. 31, and the Moderna and the AstraZeneca vaccines between Oct. 28 and Nov. 3, Chen said.
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