The number of local COVID-19 cases confirmed this week increased 23.1 percent from a week earlier, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 32,529 new local cases.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), head of the CECC’s disease surveillance division, said that 283 imported cases and 42 deaths were also confirmed yesterday.
The number of new local cases confirmed was about 20 percent more than on Saturday last week, showing a clear growth trend, Chou said.
Photo: AP
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, said more than 212,000 cases have been reported this week.
Weekly case numbers have been increasing for three consecutive weeks, showing that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2 has arrived and cases are surging as a result, he said.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for Moderna’s second-generation bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for adults.
Commentators have asked why the government is purchasing the bivalent vaccine that targets the Omicron BA.1 subvariant and the original 2020 strain, rather than a trivalent vaccine that targets the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants along with the original strain.
Wang said that data for the Omicron BA.1-adapted bivalent vaccine are more complete, and include animal testing and phase 2 and 3 clinical trials.
It has gained emergency use authorization in the UK, Switzerland, Australia, the EU, Canada and Taiwan between Aug. 15 and Friday, showing that it has international recognition, Wang said.
The Omicron BA.4 and BA.5-adapted vaccine was just approved by the US on Wednesday, and there is not enough clinical evidence to prove whether it is more effective than the BA.1-adapted vaccine, he said.
Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have not submitted the data to Taiwan for review, he said, adding that the companies have said they cannot deliver BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccines to countries other than the US at this time.
Data from clinical trials on the Omicron BA.1-adapted bivalent vaccine have shown a certain level of protection against different strains of Omicron, so as new cases are increasing, that vaccine is considered effective enough to be purchased, Wang said.
The center is also reserving capacity to purchase new vaccines, possibly including the BA.4 and BA.5-adapted vaccine, he added.
“When it is already raining, or when heavy rain is about to fall, we should use the umbrella we have at hand to block the rain, instead of getting wet and hoping to buy a new type of umbrella,” he said.
The center would not force anyone to get vaccinated, so if some people insist on waiting for a newer vaccine, they can do so, but they should not try to stop others from getting vaccinated with what is available, he said.
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