The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) prioritizes saving lives, but Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement contract does not allow for Taiwan to switch undelivered doses for the new Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the center, said yesterday.
On the sidelines of the National Taiwan University Cancer Center’s fourth anniversary event on Monday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) told reporters that the government must prioritize people’s lives, because from his experience purchasing vaccines, he does not believe the government is doing so.
“When Taiwan needed vaccines the most, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation and I, approved by her majesty President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), worked hard to import the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,” he said. “If the vaccine could have arrived two months earlier, I believe [COVID-19-related] deaths would have been significantly reduced.”
Photo: Lo Hsin-chen, Taipei Times
He said his 97-year-old mother had received three Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shots, but she cannot receive the new Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent vaccine booster, as they are not available in Taiwan.
“I must stress again that we most certainly treat people’s lives as a top priority,” Wang said at the Centers for Disease Control yesterday.
Taiwan has imported nearly 23 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — about 15 million donated by the private sector and about 7.66 million purchased by the government — as well as 26 million doses of the Moderna vaccine — about 6 million doses last year and 20 million doses this year, he said.
Wang said that there are still about 300,000 doses of the adult Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 700,000 doses of the children’s vaccine available to administer.
All of the scheduled Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses have arrived in Taiwan, he said.
However, about two months ago, when about 1 million doses had yet to be delivered, the CECC had tried to switch them with the new bivalent vaccine, but the original procurement contract did not include the option to exchange vaccines for newer types and the request was denied, he said.
Taiwan’s procurement contract with Moderna is for 20 million doses this year and 15 million doses next year, and the company has agreed to allow undelivered doses to be switched with next-generation vaccines, Wang said.
The supply of the Moderna vaccine is also more flexible, as the vaccine maker is willing to deliver more doses when demand is higher or postpone delivery if people are less willing to get vaccinated, he said.
There are still about 4 million doses of Moderna’s Omicron-adapted bivalent vaccine available, and the center would be launching campaigns to encourage more people to get vaccinated, as recently there have been only about 20,000 to 30,000 doses administered per day, Wang said.
The Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna bivalent vaccines are mRNA vaccines approved by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for use as a booster shot, and there is no evidence of there being a significant difference in their efficacy or side effects.
The CECC yesterday reported 17,080 new local COVID-19 cases, 51 imported cases and 18 deaths. The local caseload was 0.2 percent lower than on Tuesday last week.
Of the 18 deaths, 11 people were unvaccinated, while 15 had not received a booster shot, CECC data showed.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS