People with COVID-19 vaccination appointments could reschedule the date to next week if vaccinations are suspended due to Typhoon In-Fa, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
People who booked an appointment through the central vaccine appointment platform 1922.gov.tw for a day on which inoculations are suspended due to a typhoon would retain their eligibility, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told the center’s daily news conference in Taipei.
They would receive another text message informing them to log onto the platform again and schedule a new appointment, the CECC said.
They should be able to receive their COVID-19 vaccination the following week, Chen said, urging residents of potentially typhoon-affected areas not to worry.
People who booked an appointment online or by telephone directly with a healthcare facility should reschedule their vaccinations according to the facility’s procedure, the center said.
The CECC also reminded healthcare facilities and local health authorities to prepare for the approaching typhoon and to ensure that their refrigerated vaccine storage would remain operational in the event of a power outage.
The center might postpone vaccine distribution today and tomorrow, depending on typhoon warnings, it said.
As of Wednesday, 5,894,500 vaccine doses had been administered — 5,718,272 first doses and 176,228 second doses, CECC data showed.
The center said that 24.35 percent of the population had been vaccinated, or 25.1 doses per 100 people.
To encourage more healthcare facilities to offer vaccinations, the CECC would increase its administrative payment to local healthcare facilities for COVID-19 vaccinations from NT$40 to NT$100 per dose, Chen said.
That would be on top of a NT$100 handling fee facilities receive per jab, as well as monetary rewards the CECC offers based on the number of doses administered, he said.
A new reward level has been added to give facilities that vaccinate 500 or more people a NT$15,000 reward, he said.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we