People planning to travel overseas during the Lunar New Year holiday should before departure be inoculated with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine that covers the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants of SARS-COV-2, a physician and government health official said yesterday.
Receiving such a booster dose is likely to prevent severe symptoms and hospitalization if the disease is contracted, Lee Ping-ing (李秉穎) said on a radio talk show.
Lee is the convener of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and an attending physician of pediatric infectious diseases at National Taiwan University Children’s Hospital.
Photo: CNA
The health risks of traveling abroad during one of the important holidays in Taiwan and China have been under scrutiny after Beijing said its COVID-19 travel restrictions are to be lifted on Jan. 8.
“Taiwan, Japan, the US, the EU and other countries have high vaccination rates, and a significant percentage of the population who have contracted COVID-19 have acquired immunity from the disease, even though the virus continues to mutate,” Lee said.
“Compared with high death and hospitalization rates in 2020, most people are likely to develop only mild symptoms when infected,” he added.
People can continue to travel abroad as long as they are cautious, Lee told talk show host Clara Chou (周玉蔻).
However, Lunar New Year holiday travelers should receive booster shots with next-generation Moderna COVID-19 vaccines if they are traveling abroad, especially to countries with high infection rates, such as China, Lee said.
“I advise travelers to be vaccinated with next-generation bivalent vaccines for the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. Even though a COVID-19 infection could follow, properly immunized people are more likely to have mild symptoms rather than being hospitalized,” Lee said.
“The last thing anyone wants is to end up staying in bed throughout a vacation and being unable to access proper healthcare in a foreign country,” he said.
Asked whether Taiwan should import next-generation COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech, Lee said that it is not necessary as Taiwan has sufficient stocks of the bivalent Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
The next-generation COVID-19 vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech pose few health risks, he added.
Lee further estimated that the number of COVID-19 cases in China is expected to peak in two months after it lifts restrictions, adding that the WHO does not plan to announce an end to the COVID-19 pandemic until the situation in China shows signs of easing.
“China’s biggest problem is that it does not want to procure COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by foreign pharmaceutical firms. Clearly, its self-produced vaccines are less effective in protecting people against the virus,” he said, adding that the situation in China would dramatically improve if people were inoculated with vaccines manufactured by other countries.
Subsequent subvariants that might emerge from China are likely to only cause mild symptoms and not lead to higher death and hospitalization rates, Lee said.
The reopening of direct ferry and flight services connecting Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China could lead to an increase in COVID-19 cases in the outlying islands, but death and hospitalization rates would not rise dramatically given their high vaccination rates, he said.
Asked why Taiwan exempts Hong Kong and Macau visitors from the requirement for China arrivals to take saliva tests, Lee cited the relatively high vaccination rates in those areas.
Japan, the US and Italy have also imposed restrictions on inbound travelers from China, including those from Hong Kong and Macau.
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