Buddhist charity buys millions more BioNTech vaccine doses for Taiwan
- Island’s Tzu Chi Foundation signs agreement with Chinese distributor of German shots
- Jabs will be handed over to government in Taipei after anticipated September delivery
With a recent spike in Covid-19 cases, the government has been struggling to get enough doses to inoculate its people and has agreed to allow the private sector to get involved in getting jabs into arms.
The Buddhist foundation said it hoped the first batches of its purchase would arrive in early September, likely coinciding with other non-government orders.
So far, 24 per cent of the island’s 23.5 million people have had one jab and 0.6 per cent have received two doses, according to the Central Epidemic Command Centre.
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The foundation said that, with the “active efforts of relevant sectors and the assistance of the governing authorities,” a contract had been signed with a Hong Kong subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd to buy 5 million doses of the BioNTech vaccine.
