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Taiwan receives first shipment of Astra-Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, told a press conference that the shipment of 117,000 doses flew in from South Korea and arrived at Taoyuan International Airport.
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Vials of AstraZeneca's Covishield inside a lab at Serum Institute of India in Pune, pictured on Nov. 30, 2019. The COVID-19 vaccine is of particular value in developing nations. (Reuters/File photo)
T
he first shipment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday, with inoculations set to begin as soon as a week later.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, told a press conference that the shipment of 117,000 doses flew in from South Korea and arrived at Taoyuan International Airport.
"It's the first shipment, so we'll be extra careful," Chen said.
Chen said last month that while the vaccination program could start a week after the shipment, it could take as long as 40 days depending on whether the importing drug factories have satisfactorily submitted the required information.
Health care professionals and essential front-line workers with high exposure to health risks will be prioritized to receive the first of the vaccine's two-dose regime. The second dose is meant to be given at least eight weeks later.
However, given concern over the efficacy of AstraZeneca Plc's vaccine, Chen said immunization will not be mandatory and that the center's specialists would make the best recommendations according to scientific evidence.
The 117,000 doses of the vaccine are part of a total of 10 million doses Taiwan has secured from the British biopharmaceutical company.
The shipment was made possible after the Food and Drug Administration issued emergency use authorization last month for the AstraZeneca vaccine to be imported from factories in Germany, Italy and South Korea.
Taiwan aims to obtain a total of 30 million to 35 million COVID-19 vaccinations for the national immunization campaign.
In addition to the 10 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, Premier Su Tseng-chang said last month that Taiwan has acquired 4.76 million shots via the WHO-led global vaccine distribution platform COVAX.
Taiwan has also landed deals with US biotechnology firm Moderna for 5 million doses, while negotiations with Germany's BioNTech over securing 5 million doses of its vaccine, jointly developed with Pfizer of the United States, are ongoing.
Local vaccine manufacturer Medigen Vaccine Biologics is expected to complete the second phase of its clinical trials by the end of next month, paving the way for the rollout of an indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine as early as July, Chen said.
