Coronavirus: Taiwan to step up vaccination drive with 2 million doses to arrive by end of June
- Island counts 549 new infections and adds 12 to pandemic death toll on Wednesday, prompting health minister to outline large-scale vaccination programme
- Medical experts warn of a possible new outbreak because of undiagnosed and mild cases within communities
Along with other shipments expected to arrive in Taiwan in the next two months, the island should have some 10 million shots available by the end of August, Chen said.
“We hope to reach the goal of having 60 per cent of our people taking the first jabs by October,” he said.
Under the plan, more than 7,790 medical workers will be deployed to vaccinate over 1 million people per week, according to the command centre.
The centre said that in addition to hospitals and health centres, 800 local clinics had joined the programme, with 2,000 more clinics taking part from August.
So far, more than 460,000 people, mostly medical and frontline workers, have had at least one dose – covering just 2.32 per cent of the island’s 23.5 million population. The centre said 65 people showed adverse effects, including serious headaches, body aches and nausea.
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But some medical experts warned of the risk of further outbreaks.
Ho Mei-hsiang, from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences under Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top academic institution, said the soft lockdown introduced on May 15 had had some effect but the restrictions were less likely to be eased in the next two weeks.
“There are still a number of undiagnosed and mild cases which could induce a new wave of cluster infections within communities,” Ho said.
Taiwan has stopped short of imposing a full lockdown, but raised the alert to the third level of its four-tier system, requiring people to stay at home as much as possible and strictly observe social distancing rules and mask wearing until June 14.
Chen called on the public to remain on guard, saying the outbreak appeared to have slowedbut it was still far from under control.
On Wednesday, the command centre reported 372 new local cases, no new imported cases, and 177 cases delayed by a reporting backlog last week – bringing the total number to 9,389, with 149 deaths, including the 12 new deaths.
The stress of the outbreak has not only taken its toll on health workers but also on coronavirus patients.
Police in Taipei said they arrested a 71-year-old man on Wednesday after he smashed a hospital window and fled the ward where he was being treated. On Monday, a 62-year-old man stabbed three nurses who tried to stop him from breaking out of a hospital’s negative pressure ward in New Taipei.
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Thomas Prinz, Germany’s de facto ambassador to Taiwan, said he was confident that Taiwan should be able to keep the pandemic at bay given the efforts of its government and the public.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Prinz also said the German government would be happy to see the island and Germany-based BioNTech reach a deal on vaccines but it was not up to Berlin.
Taipei has claimed that Beijing hampered the island’s efforts to buy BioNTech vaccines, with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group having the rights to distribute the doses throughout the greater China region. But Beijing says Taipei refused to deal with Fosun due to its anti-China policy.
“Please trust that the German government ... has made great efforts in continuous communication and coordination between Taiwan and BioNTech [over the vaccine purchase deal],” he said.
Prinz said Germany contributed to the Covax Facility, the WHO-backed platform through which the island has acquired a number of AstraZeneca jabs.
He called on the public to get vaccinated when more brands of vaccines were available.
Chen, the health minister, thanked Germany for its efforts to try to help Taiwan buy the BioNTech vaccine.
