Vaccine boost: Foxconn’s Gou hopes for up to 9 million BioNTech shots for Taiwan this year

Shots available to the island earlier than expected because a delay in regulatory approval for use in mainland China creates a surplus

Billionaire expects estimated 700,000 to 800,000 doses per week will come

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Workers unload a shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines from an aircraft at the Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan on Thursday. Photo: Taiwan Centres for Disease Control via AP

Published: 2:15pm, 6 Sep 2021Updated: 3:20pm, 6 Sep 2021

Taiwan could get up to 9 million doses of BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine this year, the founder of Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn said on Monday, laying out a delivery timetable for a vaccine order that became heavily politicised.

Taiwan had blamed mainland China, which claims the island as its own territory, for nixing an original order from the German firm this year – charges Beijing has angrily denied.

Taiwanese Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (fifth from right) poses with thank you cards with other officials and workers after receiving a shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines at the Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan on Thursday, September 2. Photo: AP

Taiwan’s government then allowed major Apple supplier Foxconn – formally Hon Hai Precision Industry – as well as its high-profile billionaire founder, Terry Gou, along with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, to negotiate on its behalf for the doses.

The first batch of BioNTech shots arrived last week. A Taiwanese Buddhist group has also ordered 5 million shots, with government approval.

Writing on his Facebook page, Gou said the second batch of vaccines should arrive before the end of the week, with the third batch coming around the middle of the month.