Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Wednesday announced a plan to buy 5.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines targeting new variants that it will begin administering, along with flu vaccines, in October.
Due to the COVID-19 virus continuing to mutate, the CDC will purchase vaccines that offer better protection against new strains, CDC spokesperson Tseng Shu-hui (曾 淑慧) said.
Tseng added that the agency plans to purchase 5.5 million doses within the year, but did not specify which variant the new jab would target.
Photo: CNA
The administration of the new vaccine will be scheduled in two phases and happen at the same time as the flu vaccine.
The first phase will kick off on Oct. 1 and individuals aged 65 and over, healthcare workers, and pregnant women will be eligible for both shots, Tseng said,
The second phase will begin on Nov. 1 and all individuals six months and older will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. Those between 50-64 will also be encouraged to have a flu jab.
The CDC did not explain how enough COVID-19 vaccines would be sourced to inoculate all those eligible. The total resident population in Taiwan is 23,413,608 as of May 2024.
On June 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its recommendations regarding COVID-19 vaccines, urging manufacturers, where feasible, to update vaccines so they target the KP.2 variant in 2024 and 2025.
Huang Li-min (黃立民), a specialist in pediatric infectious disease at National Taiwan University Hospital, said that since vaccine manufacturers have not yet produced vaccines targeting the KP.2 variant, it is likely that only vaccines targeting the JN.1 variant will be available this fall and winter in Taiwan.
He also noted that the CDC would likely purchase Moderna shots because updating Novovax COVID-19 vaccines has proven trickier due to technical constraints.
For individuals unable to receive mRNA vaccines, Huang said the existing XBB vaccine is still effective at preventing severe illness.
He added that even if JN.1 or KP.2 variants of COVID- 19 vaccines are unavailable, Novavax’s XBB vaccine could still be a viable alternative.
According to the data released by the CDC on Tuesday, Taiwan has seen a continuous rise in COVID-19 cases for five consecutive weeks, with 817 new local cases reported from June 18 to 24.
Over the past four weeks, the JN.1 variant has been the most prevalent strain in Taiwan, accounting for 62 percent of domestic cases and 47 percent of imported cases.
Meanwhile, the KP.2 variant has made up 18 percent of domestic cases and 25 percent of imported cases.
Tseng said that the authorities only need to be informed of a COVID-19 case if it is moderate or severe.
She predicted that the epidemic would continue to spread slowly until mid-July and that the rate of increase in cases in the upcoming two weeks was expected to be lower than in the previous two weeks.
‘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
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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
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
RSS