Taiwan received a sixth vaccine donation from Japan Wednesday morning, which contained 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca. Japan has now given Taiwan more than 4.2 million doses in total, the most of any country. So far, nearly 70% of Taiwan''s population has received one dose of COVID vaccine. Second-dose coverage is at nearly 30%.

Tuesday was the last day of Phase 1 in the 12th round of vaccinations, which offered first doses of Pfizer and second doses of Moderna and AstraZeneca. Over in Taichung, city mayor Lu Shiow-yen inspected a vaccination site where many older adults were receiving their shots.

Lu Shiow-yen
Taichung mayor
The 12th round of vaccinations is the largest round so far for Taichung. We have administered almost 550,000 doses. To avoid mishaps and ensure safe injections, we used a strategy of one vaccine brand per time slot per venue. This way, we’ve been able to prevent instances of erroneous injections.

At 9:49 Wednesday morning, a sixth donation of AstraZeneca vaccines from Japan arrived in Taiwan, containing about of 300,000 doses.

On social media, Taiwan’s representative to Japan Frank Hsieh posted a picture of the cargo plane before takeoff. He wrote, “Although it’s the sixth donation already, my feelings are just as they were at the very beginning. I feel deep gratitude for Japan’s friendship and assistance.”

As of Thursday, Taiwan has received 26.52 million vaccine doses. That’s 12.42 million doses of AstraZeneca, 6.24 million doses of Moderna, 5.92 million doses of Pfizer and 2.23 million doses of Medigen. Single-dose coverage is quickly approaching 70%.

Chen Shih-chung
Health minister
Overall single-dose coverage is 69.49%, and second-dose coverage is 29.6%. Our targets of 70% with one shot and 30% with two should be met tomorrow.

The health minister said Taiwan will lift border restrictions once a predetermined vaccination rate is met. The rate will be determined by the central government and experts in the weeks ahead.