The Taipei City Department of Health yesterday said it would offer an additional NT$100 (US$3.24) bonus for administering any dose of publicly funded routine immunization vaccines to children aged six or younger whose household registration is in Taipei.
The bonus comes as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) seeks to increase the fee amid pressure from clinics and doctors.
The CDC in June said that medical professionals have been calling for the vaccination treatment fee to be increased, after it fell back to NT$100 following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
The centers said that the then-Central Epidemic Command Center offered an additional NT$100 bonus to the base NT$100 fee to encourage clinics to offer vaccinations during the pandemic, but the fee returned to its original level after the command center disbanded.
CDC Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) last month said the Cabinet agreed to increase the vaccination budget, which, if passed by the legislature, would raise the vaccine administration fee to NT$200 for young children and NT$150 for everyone else.
The Taipei health department said its publicly funded routine immunization program includes nine types of vaccines, consisting of 19 doses, including 17 doses received up to age three.
The coverage rate of the publicly funded routine immunization for young children in Taipei reached 97.8 percent last year, but the department continues to encourage healthcare facilities to administer the vaccines, she said.
The department has allocated NT$19.6 million budget for the policy, which could take effect shortly after it is passed by the city council, she added.
Meanwhile, the department urged Taipei’s elderly residents to get vaccinated, as they are at higher risk of developing severe complications, possibly leading to death, from Streptococcus pneumoniae infection during autumn and winter.
Pneumonia steadily ranks third among the 10 leading causes of death among Taipei residents, it said, adding that 1,815 city residents died of pneumonia last year, and the standardized mortality rate has been rising annually.
S pneumoniae is a leading cause of pneumonia, and vaccination has been proven an effective method to reduce the risk of infection, as well as the risk of developing meningitis, sepsis or other severe complications, or death from infection, it added.
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