People who want to get the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine in Taipei can make reservations starting today, Taipei Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) said yesterday.
Reservations for 25,000 Novavax doses can be made from 9am today on Taipei’s COVID-19 vaccination reservation system, he said, adding that they would be administered from Monday to Sunday next week.
Reservations can be made until 5pm tomorrow, but if there are still slots remaining, the system would remain open past the deadline, the system’s Web site says.
Photo: Dado Ruvic, Reuters
Six hospitals in the city — National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Pojen General Hospital, the Central Clinic and Hospital, the Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center and the Zhongxiao branch of Taipei City Hospital — would also offer Novavax vaccinations on Friday, Tsai said.
From Monday next week, the vaccine would be available at 22 hospitals and clinics in Taipei, he said.
The Novavax vaccine is approved as a primary and booster shot for people aged 18 or older, and can be mixed and matched with other brands available for that age group, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.
Taiwan received its first shipment of 504,000 doses of the vaccine on Thursday. The remainder of Taiwan’s order of 2.268 million Novavax vaccines from COVAX — the global vaccine program run by Gavi and the WHO — would be delivered by the end of the year, the CECC has said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan yesterday received a shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11, the final batch of the vaccine it has ordered for this year, the CECC said.
The shipment contains 590,400 doses that expire on Dec. 30, it said.
Taiwan signed a contract in April to purchase 1.8 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for adults and 2.2 million doses of the vaccine for children aged five to 11, which have now all been delivered.
The CECC previously said that it was negotiating a new deal to purchase Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged six months to four years.
The first batch of the Moderna vaccine for children aged six months or older is scheduled to arrive early this month, with administration of the vaccine beginning in the middle of this month, the CECC said.
To date, 91.33 percent of Taiwan’s population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 84.08 percent has received two doses and 70.34 percent has received a booster shot, CECC data showed.
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