From tomorrow, people who received a first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at least eight weeks earlier can book an appointment directly at healthcare facilities to receive a dose of the Moderna or the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported seven imported cases of the disease.
In an effort to improve access to COVID-19 vaccinations, people can mix and match vaccines by booking a vaccine appointment at designated hospitals and clinics, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
The center last week announced that in the 15th vaccination round from today to Wednesday next week, people who received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine at least eight weeks earlier could register on the national online COVID-19 vaccination booking system to receive a Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as their second COVID-19 vaccine dose.
Chen yesterday said that those eligible for the mix-and-match regimen who have not registered online can now book an appointment at designated healthcare facilities to be announced by local governments.
The approximately 2.9 million people who are eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could start booking an appointment on the online system at 10am yesterday.
About 1.2 million people had booked an appointment as of 1pm yesterday, Chen said.
The percentage of eligible recipients who actually book an appointment is expected to decline in upcoming vaccination rounds, because a large proportion of eligible recipients who registered their vaccination preference in the system and were eligible in several previous rounds failed to book an appointment, so they are unlikely to book one in future rounds, he said.
Chen said that 261,640 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered on Monday, bringing the nation’s first-dose vaccination rate to 77.15 percent and its full vaccination coverage to 48.9 percent.
No local infections or deaths were confirmed yesterday, he said.
Of the seven imported cases, four are men and three are women, Chen said, adding that they arrived from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Germany, Vietnam and the US.
Six of those cases are vaccine breakthrough infections, he added.
Asked if domestic restrictions might be eased, although the center on Monday said the level 2 COVID-19 alert is likely to be extended next week, Chen said that there would not be much room to do so, as the center would be implementing measures similar to the autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program last year.
Centralized quarantine facilities are available to inbound travelers from Dec. 14 to Feb. 14.
A total of 3,623 of those rooms have been booked, while 17,977 remained available as of 1pm yesterday, CECC data showed.
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