A batch of 64,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine donated by Japan arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon, the fourth such donation made by Tokyo.
Japan Airlines Flight JL809 carrying the vaccines from Tokyo touched down at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 1pm.
Soon after their arrival, the doses were transported to a designated cold chain warehouse and sealed for inspection.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
A portion of the donated vaccines expire on Oct. 3, while the rest expire on Nov. 26, the Central Epidemic Command Center said.
Plans are under way to assist Japanese expatriates in Taiwan in getting a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by Japan if they so desire, the center said.
The latest batch brings the total number of doses donated by Japan to more than 3.4 million, more than any other nation.
Japan first donated 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Taiwan on June 4, followed by 1.13 million doses on July 8 and 970,000 doses on July 15.
The latest donation was made after Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi announced on Friday last week that Tokyo would donate another 440,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to other Asian nations, including Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, but he did not specify how many doses each nation would receive.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its thanks for the latest donation, especially coming at a time when Japan is experiencing a severe rise in domestic COVID-19 cases.
Donating vaccines when doses are being unevenly distributed globally is a true act of friendship, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said.
To date, Taiwan has taken delivery of approximately 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, about 6 million of which were donated by other nations.
The US is the second-largest vaccine donor to Taiwan after Japan with a donation of 2.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, followed by Poland, which donated 400,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
RSS