COVID-19 booster shots are now available to anyone who received their second COVID-19 vaccine dose at least five months ago, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
The announcement comes about a week after the CECC began offering booster shots to medical workers, epidemic prevention staff at central and local government agencies, people at risk of exposure to COVID-19 and those who need to travel abroad for an official purpose.
Taiwan on Thursday confirmed its first domestic COVID-19 case in more than a month, and the expansion of the booster shot initiative is part of the nation’s efforts to further reduce the risk of community spread, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
Photo courtesy of the CECC
Only the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine would be offered as a booster shot, he said, adding that the dosage would be half that used in the regular two-dose regime.
Booster shots can be booked directly with participating vaccination sites, Chen said, adding that people would not have to book appointments through the 1922 online platform.
The center recommended the booster shots to maintain immunity against COVID-19.
To date, 78.55 percent of Taiwan’s population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 63.25 percent have received two doses and are considered fully vaccinated.
As of Thursday, 22,688 people had received a booster shot, the CECC said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan yesterday reported 16 imported COVID-19 cases, but no domestic cases.
The cases are aged from their teens to their 60s and arrived in Taiwan from China, Ghana, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the US and Vietnam, the CECC said.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the center’s medical response division, said that CECC experts are paying special attention to the case from South Africa, as it was the first infection from the country after Taiwan tightened the regulations for arrivals from southern Africa, where the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 was first detected.
The case had received two vaccine doses — of the AstraZeneca and Moderna brands — and visited medical facilities in South Africa, Lo said.
The CECC said it would conduct genome sequencing for the case as soon as possible.
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