As publicly funded flu vaccinations are expected to run out within a week, the Executive Yuan has granted permission to the Ministry of Health and Welfare to order a further 100,000 vaccines for 11 high-risk groups, including infants and seniors over 65, to be administered from about Feb. 20, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said today.
There has been a surge of flu vaccinations after it was announced on Monday that Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), had died from pneumonia brought on by severe flu complications.
Cho reported that 6.58 million flu vaccinations were ordered last year and, since the rollout in October, have been administered to 11 high-risk groups, Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said today.
Photo: Huang Shu-li, Taipei Times
Eligibility was expanded last month to those aged six months and older, as 800,000 surplus vaccines remained by the end of last year, she added.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lists the 11 high-risk groups as people over 65, pregnant women, people with chronic diseases, medical personnel, care recipients and staff at nursing homes, children aged six months to the starting age of elementary school, grade-school students, people with a BMI of 30 and above with rare or serious diseases or severe injury, parents of infants under six months, professionals at kindergartens and childcare institutions, and livestock industry personnel and animal health inspectors.
Self-funded vaccines are still in supply and available to the public, Cho said.
Although the budget for the vaccination fund has been frozen at NT$1 million (US$30,400) and the government’s allocation to the fund frozen at NT$10 million, the government must find a way to procure more vaccines to protect vulnerable groups, he added.
If procurement goes smoothly, flu vaccines purchased via this year's vaccine fund would be available to high-risk groups from about Feb. 20, CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said.
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