Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Wednesday announced a plan to buy 5.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines targeting new variants that it will begin administering, along with flu vaccines, in October.
Due to the COVID-19 virus continuing to mutate, the CDC will purchase vaccines that offer better protection against new strains, CDC spokesperson Tseng Shu-hui (曾 淑慧) said.
Tseng added that the agency plans to purchase 5.5 million doses within the year, but did not specify which variant the new jab would target.
Photo: CNA
The administration of the new vaccine will be scheduled in two phases and happen at the same time as the flu vaccine.
The first phase will kick off on Oct. 1 and individuals aged 65 and over, healthcare workers, and pregnant women will be eligible for both shots, Tseng said,
The second phase will begin on Nov. 1 and all individuals six months and older will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. Those between 50-64 will also be encouraged to have a flu jab.
The CDC did not explain how enough COVID-19 vaccines would be sourced to inoculate all those eligible. The total resident population in Taiwan is 23,413,608 as of May 2024.
On June 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its recommendations regarding COVID-19 vaccines, urging manufacturers, where feasible, to update vaccines so they target the KP.2 variant in 2024 and 2025.
Huang Li-min (黃立民), a specialist in pediatric infectious disease at National Taiwan University Hospital, said that since vaccine manufacturers have not yet produced vaccines targeting the KP.2 variant, it is likely that only vaccines targeting the JN.1 variant will be available this fall and winter in Taiwan.
He also noted that the CDC would likely purchase Moderna shots because updating Novovax COVID-19 vaccines has proven trickier due to technical constraints.
For individuals unable to receive mRNA vaccines, Huang said the existing XBB vaccine is still effective at preventing severe illness.
He added that even if JN.1 or KP.2 variants of COVID- 19 vaccines are unavailable, Novavax’s XBB vaccine could still be a viable alternative.
According to the data released by the CDC on Tuesday, Taiwan has seen a continuous rise in COVID-19 cases for five consecutive weeks, with 817 new local cases reported from June 18 to 24.
Over the past four weeks, the JN.1 variant has been the most prevalent strain in Taiwan, accounting for 62 percent of domestic cases and 47 percent of imported cases.
Meanwhile, the KP.2 variant has made up 18 percent of domestic cases and 25 percent of imported cases.
Tseng said that the authorities only need to be informed of a COVID-19 case if it is moderate or severe.
She predicted that the epidemic would continue to spread slowly until mid-July and that the rate of increase in cases in the upcoming two weeks was expected to be lower than in the previous two weeks.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS