More than 5.71 million people are eligible to book an appointment for a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine through the national booking system today, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported four local infections and 40 imported cases.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), the CECC’s spokesman, said that booking a booster vaccine appointment in the 25th round of the national COVID-19 vaccination booking system (1922.gov.tw) starts today.
People aged 18 years or older who received their second dose on or before Dec. 19 last year are eligible to book an appointment, he said, adding that the shots are to be administered between Monday and Sunday next week.
Photo: CNA
Bookings open at 10am today for people aged 55 years or older, at 12pm for people aged 38 to 54, and at 2pm for people aged 18 to 37, Chuang said, adding that the deadline is 12pm on Friday.
A total of 1.51 million vaccination slots would be opened across the nation, comprising 1.21 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, about 206,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 76,000 doses of the Medigen vaccine and 1,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
As of Monday, the nation’s first-dose COVID-19 vaccination rate was 82.84 percent, full vaccination coverage was 76.83 percent and the booster dose vaccination rate was 41.44 percent, the CECC’s data showed.
Among the four local infections confirmed yesterday, one is linked to a cluster involving a religious gathering in Taipei, Chuang said.
The case, a colleague of one of the infected members of the religious group, tested positive upon ending their 14-day isolation on Monday.
The three other cases are linked to a cluster of infections involving several preschool students in Taoyuan, Chuang said, adding that the three are sons of a previous case — No. 20,621 — who had direct contact with the infected father of an infected preschool student, he said.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that among the 15 different strains of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 that had been found among local cases, there were six chains of transmission with an unknown infection source that are being monitored.
The CECC also reported 40 new imported cases, including 25 people who tested positive at the airport on Monday.
Asked about a report that several Taiwanese in Ukraine who evacuated to Turkey were blocked from boarding a plane to Taiwan because they did not have a negative COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result, Chuang said there could be some misunderstanding by airline personnel.
Although a negative COVID-19 result from a PCR test is required for traveling to Taiwan, passengers without the test result could sign an affidavit and inform the airline, so that the airline can arrange special seating for them separate from other people, before boarding the plane.
From Jan. 4 to yesterday, there were 631 inbound passengers who did not have a negative PCR test result with them, but they were required to undergo a COVID-19 test upon arrival at the airport, he said.
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