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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Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
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