Taiwan yesterday reported 15,123 new COVID-19 infections and 30 deaths from the disease, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reported.
The new cases represented a 7.1 percent increase from the same day a week earlier, CECC data showed.
The 106,889 cases reported from Dec. 11 to Saturday is a 6.93 percent increase from the previous week, CECC data showed.
Photo: CNA
The 219 deaths from the disease over the same period is a 14.06 percent increase from the previous seven-day period, the data showed.
The deceased reported yesterday ranged from age 40 to older than 90. All but three had underlying health conditions, while 19 were unvaccinated against COVID-19, the CECC said.
Separately, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has agreed to pay NT$20,000 (US$651.25) under the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) to a Taichung teenager who developed myocarditis and pericarditis after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The decision came after a VICP meeting last month ruled that individuals should receive compensation for serious adverse effects likely linked to any vaccine, even if no direct connection between the vaccine and an adverse event is definitively established.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman said on Saturday that the Taichung teenager developed chest discomfort and nausea four days after receiving a dose of the Pfizer-BNT vaccine.
Doctors diagnosed the teenager with myocarditis and pericarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle and irritation of surrounding heart tissue respectively.
The meeting’s panel said the heart conditions were documented adverse effects sometimes caused by mRNA vaccines, and awarded NT$20,000 in compensation.
That was one of 89 compensation claims discussed at the VICP meeting on Nov. 24.
The panel awarded compensation to 10 of 89 claimants, with two related to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, six related to the AstraZeneca vaccine and the other two related to the Moderna vaccine.
The other successful Pfizer-BioNTech claimant was also awarded NT$20,000, while the successful AstraZeneca claimants were awarded amounts ranging from NT$10,000 to NT$300,000.
The claimants in the Moderna vaccine cases were awarded NT$14,000 and NT$300,000.
One of the two people who received NT$300,000 in compensation was a Taoyuan woman in her 30s who developed thrombosis with thrombocytopenia — a blood clot and low platelet count respectively — documented adverse effects of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
The other claimant who was paid NT$300,000 was a Hualien woman in her 80s who received the Moderna vaccine. The panel could not establish a connection between the vaccine and her heart symptoms as she was not in the age group in which the symptoms are commonly seen, and had underlying conditions, including high blood pressure and diabetes, and had also had a stroke.
However, she was compensated given that her symptoms began shortly after being vaccinated.
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