Taipei yesterday started offering a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines to people in the top three priority groups for vaccination through arranged sessions, as well as to other eligible recipients at 18 hospitals in the city, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Thursday last week said that, in response to the global threat of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, people who have been fully vaccinated for more than five months are eligible to receive an additional booster shot, effective immediately.
The center added that most of those who have been fully vaccinated for five months are people in the top three priority groups for vaccination, including healthcare workers, non-healthcare workers at healthcare facilities, government disease prevention personnel and frontline workers who are at a higher risk of infection.
Photo: CNA
Ko said that with the Omicron variant spreading, South Korea, which has a full vaccination coverage of more than 80 percent, still reported more than 4,000 new infections yesterday, so Taiwan needs to be vigilant, as the nation’s full vaccination rate is only about 60 percent.
As of Saturday, the first-dose vaccination rate among Taipei residents was 74.8 percent and the full vaccination rate was 60.2 percent, he said.
Some people have yet to be vaccinated, he said, urging them to get vaccinated while the local COVID-19 situation is relatively safe.
People who have not received their second dose have three options to get vaccinated: booking an appointment through the national online vaccination booking system, directly booking an appointment with one of the 15 designated healthcare facilities in the city, or registering on-site at one of the 14 designated hospitals in the city, he said.
The city’s healthcare facilities are responsible for ensuring that their employees receive a booster shot, he added.
As for people in the second and third priority groups, the Taipei Department of Health would ask the establishments to submit a list of eligible recipients and arrange special sessions for them to receive a booster shot, Ko said.
People who are not able to make it to the arranged sessions can get their jab afterward at one designated hospital per administration district, he added.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) said people who are planning to travel abroad and other eligible recipients for the booster shot can also book an appointment with one of 18 designated hospitals in the city.
With a batch of Moderna vaccines due to expire on Thursday, from yesterday to Thursday, the city government is offering NT$100 gift certificates to encourage people to get their shot — be it their first, second or third dose, Ko said.
There are still about 375,000 Taipei residents who have yet to be vaccinated, Tsai said, urging them to do so as soon as possible.
As for the CECC’s mandatory full vaccination order for workers at 24 types of establishments supervised by the education, economics, labor, and health and welfare ministries, Ko said the city government would strictly enforce the order, and workers who are unwilling to get vaccinated must undergo a COVID-19 test every week.
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
RSS