The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) is planning to launch an expanded COVID-19 vaccination program next month to reach a full vaccination coverage rate of more than 60 percent by the end of the year, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
Chen, who heads the CECC, made the announcement during a question-and-answer session at the legislature in Taipei alongside Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) asked whether the government’s strategy is to achieve “COVID-19 zero” or “to coexist with COVID-19,” as the strategy would affect regulations.
Photo: Su Meng-chuan, Taipei Times
“At present, Taiwan is actually very safe, as border control measures and local contact tracing have been conducted thoroughly, so the goal is to achieve ‘COVID-19 zero,’” Su said.
He said if the COVID-19 situation in Taiwan remains under control and if the virus does not undergo a major mutation, then COVID-19 might gradually become like the seasonal flu and the goal could then be “to coexist with COVID-19.”
“The current goal is to achieve COVID-19 zero, but Taiwan must also be prepared to coexist with COVID-19,” Chen said, adding that the CECC’s measures aim to build “resilience” in disease prevention — finding a balance between levels of restrictions while avoiding pandemic fatigue, and reducing harm to the economy.
Asked by Chiang when the government expects to achieve herd immunity, Chen said that “no one talks about achieving herd immunity nowadays, but rather how vaccination can reduce severe COVID-19 and death. The center’s goal is to achieve a full vaccination coverage rate of more than 60 percent by the end of the year.”
He said the short-term goal is to achieve a first-dose vaccination coverage rate of more than 70 percent and a full vaccination coverage rate of more than 30 percent by the end of this month.
Chiang also asked about the criteria for lowering a nationwide level 2 COVID-19 alert and when the center expects to meet them.
There are a few aspects that must be taken into consideration, Chen said, including the number of new locally transmitted cases with unclear infection sources, the responsiveness of the healthcare system, the full vaccination rate of people aged 65 or older and high-risk people, the public’s compliance level with the guidelines and changes in the global COVID-19 situation.
It is difficult to predict when the alert level would be lowered, but the criteria are being discussed with specialists, he said.
Chiang said that while more than 720,000 people in Taiwan have received the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Taiwanese firm Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗), the brand is not recognized by the US, which next month is to require international visitors to be vaccinated to enter the nation.
People from Taiwan have not been banned from entering the US in the past year and Taiwan has not been listed as a high-risk area for COVID-19 infection, Chen said, adding that the government would continue negotiating with the US government on the issue.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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