The government-funded influenza vaccines for the next flu season would be changed to the trivalent flu vaccine, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is planning to purchase about 7 million doses.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) yesterday made the decision to change the flu vaccines from the current quadrivalent vaccine to the trivalent vaccine.
The quadrivalent flu vaccine contains four vaccine viruses or viral proteins: two influenza A viruses — influenza A(H1N1) and influenza A(H3N2) viruses, and influenza B lineages B/Victoria and B/Yamagata.
Photo: Taipei Times
The government-funded flu vaccination program in Taiwan began offering the quadrivalent flu vaccine in 2019.
ACIP head Lee Ping-ing (李秉穎), a professor at National Taiwan University Hospital, yesterday said the main reason the committee decided to change to the trivalent vaccine is that the health authorities have not observed any circulation of the B/Yamagata virus since 2020.
While there is no problem in using the quadrivalent flu vaccines, if vaccine makers continue to make vaccines with the influenza B/Yamagata virus, there are still risks that it might leak from research-and-development labs into the local communities, causing it to circulate again, he said.
The WHO last year recommended removing the B/Yamagata influenza virus strain from flu vaccines, he added.
Following the WHO recommendation, flu vaccine makers around the world last year had to readjust their production lines, he said.
Domestic vaccine makers also needed time to apply and receive permits for the trivalent vaccines, so quadrivalent flu vaccines were still used during this flu season, he said.
There are five pharmaceutical companies that have a permit to manufacture and distribute flu vaccines in Taiwan: Adimmune Corp (國光生技), Sanofi Taiwan Co, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) pharmaceutical Co’s Taiwan Branch, TTY Biopharm Co (台灣東洋藥品) and Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗).
Adimmune, Sanofi, TTY Biopharm and Medigen have obtained drug permit licenses for trivalent flu vaccines, the Food and Drug Administration’s online Drug License Inquiry System showed.
Open tendering for flu vaccine procurement would be held next month or in April, CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said.
As the number of elderly people in the nation is increasing, the centers are planning to purchase about 7 million doses of flu vaccines for the next season starting in October, Tseng said.
The number is the highest ever for the government-funded vaccination program.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS