An additional 105,000 publicly funded flu vaccine doses would be available to eligible people from Thursday next week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
TTY Biopharm Co had won the NT$12.71 million (US$386,781) contract to supply the cell culture flu vaccines, which are suitable for children older than six months, adolescents and adults, the CDC said in a statement.
The CDC had been asked to procure the additional doses by the Executive Yuan in response to soaring demand for flu vaccines.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
Administration of the additional doses is expected to start on Thursday next week as planned for people aged 65 or older, infants older than six months old, preschool children and those at higher risk of contracting the flu, the agency said.
The government-funded vaccines are to be distributed to local health bureaus on Monday, which would then send them to their planned vaccination sites, the CDC said.
At a news conference yesterday, CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) advised at-risk people to get their dose once the vaccine becomes available to prevent serious illness and death.
Tseng said that if the flu vaccination rate for at-risk groups is not as high as expected, the CDC might launch a second round of free flu vaccination campaigns.
The nation has seen a surge in vaccination demand driven by the death of actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) at the age of 48 from flu-related complications on Feb. 2.
A daily high of 73,000 government-funded influenza vaccinations were given last week, with the vaccine stockpile to run out soon, CDC data showed.
As such, the government decided to purchase an additional 100,000 doses of the influenza vaccine for at-risk groups, the CDC said.
Since Jan. 1, the government has been offering free flu shots to all unvaccinated residents aged six months or older until supplies run out.
As of Monday, 6.573 million publicly funded flu vaccines had been administered, with 13,000 doses left, CDC data showed.
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