Taiwan yesterday began administering free influenza and COVID-19 vaccines at hospitals and other medical facilities nationwide, but unlike last year, the free COVID-19 shot would not be available to everyone, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said.
The flu season typically starts in November and peaks over the winter before winding down in March.
This year’s vaccination program is being implemented in two phases, and eligible individuals can receive the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines free of charge.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
The first phase, which started yesterday, covers people aged 65 and older, indigenous people aged 55 and older, preschool children aged six months and older, those with high-risk or chronic diseases, pregnant women, parents of infants younger than six months, employees at child care or long-term care facilities, and healthcare and disease-control personnel.
In addition, students in elementary through senior-high school, as well as those working with livestock or in animal disease control, are eligible for free flu shots, but not COVID-19 jabs, the CDC said.
When the second-phase rollout of the vaccines begins on Nov. 1, people aged 50 and older without high-risk or chronic conditions would also be eligible for both shots.
About 4,000 clinics and hospitals across Taiwan offer free vaccination services. Eligible individuals can check local health bureau Web sites, the CDC Web site or call the CDC's 1922 hotline for more information.
Unlike last year, when everyone aged six months and older were eligible for a free COVID-19 shot in the second phase, the CDC has tightened eligibility this year, with healthy individuals aged six to 49 no longer being covered.
CDC Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said that severe cases and deaths from COVID-19 have declined over the past few years, and the infectious disease dropped out of Taiwan's top 10 causes of death last year.
The WHO, as well as health authorities in Europe, the UK, Japan and South Korea, have shifted from universal COVID-19 vaccination to targeting high-risk groups, he said.
Based on those trends, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices resolved to narrow eligibility to high-risk groups this year, Lo said.
CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said the agency has coordinated with 10 contract hospitals in 10 counties and cities to offer self-paid COVID-19 vaccination this year, with details available on the CDC’s Web site.
After high-risk groups have been vaccinated for a period, the CDC would reassess supply, shelf life and the outbreak situation, and then the agency might extend free COVID-19 shots to everyone, mirroring the flu policy earlier this year, she said.
From 2019 to last year, the CDC procured quadrivalent flu vaccines, which protect against four flu strains or lineages. This year, the program has shifted to a trivalent vaccine.
Lo said the Yamagata lineage of type B influenza has not circulated globally since 2020, so Taiwan followed the WHO's suggestion and procured a trivalent vaccine that does not include that component this year.
The CDC purchased about 6.86 million influenza vaccine doses from five suppliers — local firms Adimmune, TTY Biopharm and Medigen, plus GSK Taiwan and France's Sanofi.
For COVID-19 shots, the agency procured about 2.77 million doses of Moderna's LP.8.1 vaccine and would buy 300,000 doses of Novavax's JN.1 vaccine.
The CDC recommends getting both vaccines at the same time, promoting the slogan: "Flu shot in the left arm, COVID-19 shot in the right."
International studies have shown that immune responses and side-effect rates after receiving COVID-19 and flu vaccines together are similar to those after a COVID-19 shot alone, the agency said.
As the flu season has already started, influenza-related medical visits have already surpassed the autumn peak recorded two years ago, Lo said.
The dominant strain has shifted from H1N1 to H3N2, meaning people who previously had a flu might not be fully protected and could be reinfected, he said.
As vaccine protection takes about two weeks to develop, spread of the flu is expected to edge up or remain elevated this month, staying relatively high through the month, he added.
For COVID-19, case numbers have trended down since peaking in late May to early June and remain at a relatively low level, the CDC said.
However, based on past patterns in Taiwan and neighboring countries, where new waves typically emerge four to five months after the previous peak, the CDC expects infections to begin rising again in the middle or late this month.
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