A batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has become available ahead of schedule, the government said late on Wednesday, adding that it was “competing” with other countries for it, while strongly hinting that it was a done deal.
In June, the government authorized Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密)-affiliated Yonglin Foundation to represent it in purchase negotiations with BioNTech SE.
Last month, the companies said that they succeeded in purchasing 10 million doses between them — with an initial shipping date of late next month — and that they would be donated to the government upon delivery.
Photo: Reuters
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said in a news release on Wednesday that TSMC notified it about a batch originally destined for Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co (上海復星醫藥集團) — BioNTech’s authorized distributor in the region — that would “leave the factory” late this month.
Many countries were competing for the batch, TSMC said, adding that if Taiwan did not obtain it, the batch would be sent elsewhere.
The center did not confirm that Taiwan had obtained the batch, but the rest of the statement suggested that it had.
For example, the center noted that Taiwan approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for people aged 12 to 18, and that the new school semester is to begin next month.
As long as it could be confirmed that the batch was coming from the original manufacturer and the doses passed the necessary safety inspections, the government would rapidly distribute them for the peace of mind of parents, students and teachers, it added.
As the batch was intended to be sold to “another location,” the packaging would bear the Chinese brand name and the distributor’s name in Chinese on the vial, even though this is not what was agreed upon in the procurement contract, the center said.
However, the government is willing to accept these changes to ensure that a batch arrives earlier than expected, it added.
“As long as the safety and quality of the vaccine doses can be guaranteed, there can be flexibility on the issue of labeling,” the center said.
The center’s news release was issued after Reuters reported on Wednesday that Taiwan would receive a batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine early after China — the batch’s original destination — had delayed regulatory approval of the vaccine.
The shipment of more than 1 million doses should arrive in Taiwan late this month or early next month, Reuters said, quoting an anonymous source.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday quoted a senior official as saying that Taiwan would receive nearly 2 million vaccines as early as the end of this month.
When asked whether acceptance of the batch with the Chinese labeling would constitute tacit acceptance of Beijing’s “greater Zhonghua area” rhetoric, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) yesterday said that the government’s priority was to address the pandemic.
As long as the doses are effective and arrive directly from the manufacturer, the government accepts the shipment early, he said.
Today and tomorrow, 265,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine purchased by Taiwan and 30,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine from the Czech Republic are to arrive, sources said.
As of yesterday, 41.24 percent of Taiwan’s population of 23.5 million people had received one dose, CECC data showed.
Yesterday, the center reported eight new cases of COVID-19: two domestic cases and six imported.
The two local cases, contacts of previously confirmed COVID-19 patients, tested positive in quarantine, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
One lives in Taipei and the other in New Taipei City, he added.
The six imported cases were four Taiwanese who traveled from the US, one Japanese from Japan and an American from China, the center said.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu
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 —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat