A batch of 640,000 AstraZeneca vaccines landed in Taiwan Friday afternoon. Another 1.08 million Moderna vaccines are scheduled to arrive this evening. Both shipments are part of orders Taiwan placed directly with the vaccines'' manufacturer. The CECC said Taiwan was on track to reach 70% one-dose coverage by the end of the year.
At 3 p.m. on Friday, 640,000 AZ doses ordered from the manufacturer landed at the Taoyuan airport. Including this shipment, 4.37 million doses of Taiwan’s AstraZeneca order that have been delivered. AstraZeneca is currently being administered in Taiwan’s eighth round of vaccination. So far, almost 50% of Taiwan’s population has received at least one shot of a COVID vaccine.
Chuang Jen-hsiang
CECC spokesman
Most of the vaccines administered yesterday were AstraZeneca. We administered 244,715 shots. So currently, vaccine coverage rate stands at 49.19%.
Another 1.08 million Moderna vaccines is scheduled to arrive Friday night. Ahead of the fresh delivery, the CECC released its old Moderna stock to administer as second doses. Some 291,000 Moderna doses will be offered to people aged 75 and up and to indigenous people aged 65 and up. As for the Moderna that arrives on Friday, most will be reserved for use as second shots.
Chuang Jen-hsiang
CECC spokesman
We began releasing Moderna vaccines today. We only started sending them out today in the morning, so local health authorities will be receiving the deliveries over the course of the day.
In related news, the 1.84 million Pfizer vaccines that arrived earlier month have cleared inspection. The first batch of 780,000 doses will soon be distributed to local governments, so that student vaccination can start on Sept. 22. Vaccination will start on Sept. 25 for adults aged 18 to 22, people aged 65 and up, and people with health conditions aged 40 and up. According to government data, about 4.02 million people have added Pfizer to their vaccine preferences. If any doses remain after the school inoculation drive, they will be offered to other people.
Chuang Jen-hsiang
CECC spokesman
If we have any left over, we will roll them out by age. We’ll open up vaccines for people below 40 with health conditions. Once they all get a shot, we’ll open up to people below 65 with no health conditions.
Global vaccine orders are coming in, and Taiwan’s inoculation campaign is widening. Meanwhile, second shots of the domestically developed Medigen vaccine will be offered starting Sept. 30. Taiwan is on track to reach one-dose coverage of 70% by the end of the year.
