Starting from April 8, people aged 65 and older, indigenous people aged 55 to 64, children younger than six months old and people who are immunocompromised would be eligible for a booster shot of a vaccine against the JN.1 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
The booster shot should only be taken 180 days after their previous shot, CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑惠) said.
While a vaccine of the JN.1 variant was administered as of Oct. 1 last year, its protection wanes over time, she said.
Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control
The CDC cited the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines that people in the targeted groups receive another booster shot.
The immunocompromised group includes people undergoing or who have undergone immunosuppressive therapy, chemotherapy or radiation therapy within the past year or who are taking immunosuppressive medication; people who have had organ transplant or stem-cell transplant surgery; people who have medium or severe congenital immunodeficiency; people who are on dialysis; those who have HIV; and other cases as deemed necessary by a doctor, Tseng said.
Six new severe cases of COVID-19 and one death were reported last week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said.
From September last year to yesterday, 522 cases of severe local cases of COVID-19 were reported, 112 of which resulted in death, Lee said.
Most cases involved people aged 65 and older or those with chronic diseases, she said.
All new strains reported over the past four weeks were of the SARS-CoV-2 XEC variant, including the JN.1, LP.8.1 and others, she said.
CDC data showed that 2.04 million people have been vaccinated against JN.1, 1.91 million of which used Moderna vaccines and 127,000 used Novavax vaccines.
The nation has a sufficient supply of JN.1 vaccines, with Moderna and Novavax options available for people aged 12 and older, Lee said, adding that children aged six months to 11 years old would only be vaccinated with Moderna vaccines.
Hospitals reported 108,000 emergency room visits for influenza-like illnesses last week, indicating a downward trend, the CDC said.
Emergency rooms admitted 211,000 people with diarrhea-like illnesses, down 18.4 percent from the previous week, but still the highest for the same period over the past five years, it said.
The number of diarrhea clusters in the past four weeks, 242, is also the highest for the same period, it said.
Most outbreaks occur at hotels and eateries, with the majority, 98.7 percent, affected by norovirus, it said, urging people to take necessary precautions.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS