The government should save doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine that are expected to arrive in Taiwan for junior-high and high-school students, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday, despite the health minister earlier saying that preparations are being made to do so.
The WHO’s “COVID-19 Vaccines Advice” Web page says that the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts considers the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine “suitable for use by people aged 12 years and above,” the KMT said in a statement.
The European Medicines Agency has approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 to 15; the US Food and Drug Administration has expanded the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to include adolescents aged 12 to 15; and the French government has allowed people aged 12 and above to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with parental consent, the KMT said.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) via CNA
KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) told an online news conference that despite the US’ and EU’s approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use by adolescents aged 12 to 18, she has so far not seen the government make special arrangements to reserve doses for adolescents in its procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.
There is demand for COVID-19 vaccinations among adolescents, she said, urging the government to include junior-high and high-school students among those to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.
Thanks to the efforts of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, the nation is likely to receive a total of 15 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, said KMT Legislator Lin Yi-hua (林奕華), who sits on the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
If some of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines could be reserved for students, parents would feel better about sending them back to school, she said.
However, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), on Monday said that as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only one the nation would receive that has been approved for use among those aged 12 and above, the CECC would prioritize teenagers when administering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines donated by Gou.
The ministry’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Sunday had already begun preparations for immunizing teenagers, Chen said.
As of the end of last month, there were about 1.4 million people aged 12 to 18 in Taiwan, the KMT said, citing demographic data from the Ministry of the Interior.
Administering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to adolescents aged 12 to 18 would not prevent individuals in COVID-19 vaccination priority groups 1 to 10 from receiving vaccinations, it said.
Regarding vaccination sites, Steve Wu (吳政鴻), vice president of the Taipei Federation of Parents’ Associations of Junior High School Students, said that the government should consider allowing students to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations at school to reduce their risk of infection from going elsewhere to receive the shots.
“It is the government’s responsibility and duty to protect the next generation,” the KMT said.
With less than two months before school returns from summer break, the government should plan ahead, it said.
Although it is uncertain when the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are to arrive, the government should make arrangements for junior-high and high-school students to receive them as soon as possible, it said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
RSS