Health Minister Chen Shih-chung on Monday announced that Taiwan will receive 200,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The shipment will come through the global COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan COVAX.
Minister Chen says COVAX authorities have not told him when the shipment will arrive, but they have been in close contact with health officials in Taiwan.
Chen says that vaccinating frontline medical workers will be the biggest priority. He says that if there are leftover vaccines, then the health ministry will consider allowing members of the public to pay out-of-pocket to get the vaccine.
Minister Chen says that the Central Epidemic Command Center is coming up with a system to share information about the vaccines. He says that they will let people know which groups will receive priority during the distribution of vaccinations.