The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday confirmed that the Yonglin Foundation had submitted documents, including the substantial information required, to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval to import the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, on Monday said that the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control had received six requests from companies or groups expressing their intent to import COVID-19 vaccines, but that none had provided the required documentation.
The CECC on Friday last week released a set of requirements for those who intend to import COVID-19 vaccines.
Photo courtesy of Terry Gou’s office
They include having a commissioned pharmaceutical firm submit its execution plan, product instructions, quantity and calculation basis, cold storage logistics plans, delivery schedule, vaccine expiration date, dealership authorization from the vaccine manufacturer, and a free sale certificate or replacement documents.
Yonglin Foundation founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) wrote on Facebook on Saturday that the group would commission a registered pharmaceutical firm to submit an application to import vaccines along with the required documents.
The foundation would apply to import 5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine that is manufactured and packaged in Germany, as the law prohibits groups from importing vaccines made in China, said Gou, the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密).
Photo copied by Yao Yueh-hung, Taipei Times
Delia Tseng (曾馨瑩), Gou’s wife, handed the foundation’s application in person to FDA Director-General Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅).
Chen said the CECC had expressed its gratitude to Gou, and the FDA had begun reviewing the foundation’s application, as it included the substantial information required.
The center would keep in touch with the foundation to ensure that the application proceeds smoothly, he said.
Meanwhile, Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), who on Saturday said that friends in China had agreed to donate 5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and 5 million doses of vaccine made by Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm (國藥集團), yesterday said that he had submitted an application to import vaccines on Monday.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is deputy head of the center, confirmed that Chang submitted an application, but that it only included a copy of an authorization letter from a “Beijing Cross-Strait Oriental Cultural Center” (北京兩岸東方文化中心) and none of the other required documentation.
In related news, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that vaccination centers would eventually be set up in a variety of locations, including military bases, prisons, and technology and industrial parks.
Su made the remarks at a Cabinet meeting, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said, adding that Su was briefed by Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) about a vaccine reservation system being developed with the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Once vaccines become available, they could be reserved online in a process similar to the mask reservation system set up last year, Lo quoted Tang as saying.
Reservations could be made using the National Health Insurance app, or at supermarkets and pharmacies, he added.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS