The three main candidates in the race for Taipei mayor yesterday wrangled over the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines and quarantine hotels.
Independent candidate Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), a former Taipei deputy mayor who is endorsed by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), told an online political talk show that she still cannot forgive the central government for being guided by political ideology when weighing whether to purchase the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Her remarks came after she earlier this month published a book in which she presents “innovative” COVID-19 prevention measures, including quarantine hotels, disease prevention taxis and COVID-19 testing buses.
Photo: CNA
The central government made decisions on pandemic prevention with political gains for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in mind, instead of focusing on protecting Taiwanese from the disease, Huang said yesterday, adding that the Taipei City Government was always the last to be informed about the availability of vaccines and disease prevention resources.
DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who had headed the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) for most of the pandemic, said that Huang’s book plagiarized the government’s quarantine hotel concept.
Chen said that Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) had the idea to quarantine people in hotels early in the pandemic and subsequently planned the central government’s quarantine policy.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
The central government did not block the purchase of vaccines, Chuang said, adding that Huang, who had headed Taipei’s COVID-19 prevention efforts, distorts the truth in her book.
Chen said that when the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine entered the international market, a Taiwanese company suggested that it can procure doses on behalf of the central government, but the company and a foreign producer of the vaccine could not agree on a deal.
The company’s contract with the producer, including prices, was disclosed to lawmakers at a closed-door meeting at the legislature, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
The government then contacted the producer directly and ordered 5 million doses, Chen said, but added that the two sides did not sign a deal because the drugmaker “had other ideas.”
The deal’s collapse was not within the government’s control, he added.
Chen said that in the five years he served as health minister, eight public health-related laws were enacted and 332 articles of public health laws were revised.
While heading the CECC for more two years, he went all-in to fight COVID-19, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator and Taipei mayoral candidate Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the CECC under Chen did not have an international perspective.
Instead, it pushed domestically made COVID-19 vaccines, such as the Medigen jab, which received emergency use authorization in a closed-door meeting without completing phase 3 clinical trials, Chiang said.
Lacking international recognition, the Medigen vaccine cannot be sold overseas and 1.7 million doses worth more than NT$1 billion (US$31.36 million) might have to be disposed of, he added.
Chen on Friday said that none of the review meetings ahead of the Medigen vaccine’s authorization had been recorded, as recording them might have discouraged academics and experts from stating their opinion or even participating, for fear of negative publicity.
The CECC therefore decided to only announce the result of the meetings, Chen said.
Separately, Taiwan yesterday reported 41,481 new local COVID-19 cases and 65 deaths from the disease, the CECC said.
Those who died were aged from their 30s to 90s, and all but one of them had underlying health issues, while 31 were unvaccinated, the center added.
With the deaths reported yesterday, the number of COVID-19 fatalities in the country since the pandemic began in early 2020 rose to 11,908, CECC data showed.
Taiwan has recorded 7,183,912 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, including 35,763 imported cases.
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