Taipei City has launched a city-wide vaccination campaign at seven medium-sized clinics. With the Lunar New Year approaching, long lines kept the clinics busy on Monday. Taipei Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun made an inspection tour of one of the seven clinics. During his visit, he announced that bookings for the next round of shots will start Tuesday on the CECC’s official website.

On Monday, Taipei launched a city-wide rollout of third doses at seven medium-sized clinics. At its clinic in Taipei City Hall, Moderna vaccines were on offer.

Member of public
My first two doses were AZ. Doctors and TV news reports all recommend getting Moderna for a third dose, especially if you’re on the older side.

Member of public
I think that when your time comes, you should go get the shot. Vaccinated people only have mild symptoms if they catch COVID.

For this 19th round of vaccination, Taipei only accepted bookings through its own online platform, and not through the CECC’s website. During a clinic inspection on Monday, the city’s deputy mayor announced that bookings would be taken through the CECC platform in the next round.

Tsai Ping-kun
Taipei deputy mayor
We had been one step ahead of the central government, as we had already opened up vaccination appointments and optimized our inoculation capacity. Let me mention now that for the 20th vaccination round, bookings will start tomorrow. Taipei’s vaccination capacity will be integrated into the CECC’s system.

According to the CECC, booster demand has been greatest for Moderna, Pfizer, and Medigen.

Tsai Ping-kun
Taipei deputy mayor
Our vaccination capacity for this week is 200,000 doses. Moderna accounts for about 85% of that, and BNT accounts for about 15%. For the 20th vaccination round, we will increase the number of slots for Medigen.

The official said Taipei may add more vaccination clinics in the future. The city expects to administer about 200,000 doses between Jan. 17 and Jan. 23. Local hospitals plan to administer another 20,000 doses independently. Meanwhile, vaccination is still ongoing for priority groups. Officials say they’ll make adjustments as needed, to quickly drive up Taiwan’s third-dose coverage rate.