Taiwan is expanding eligibility for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to include the second and third groups in its vaccination priority list. That means that starting on Monday, central and local government officials working in pandemic prevention will be able to get a vaccination at one of the 57 designated hospitals. Other groups that are now available include: high-risk border officials, quarantine taxi drivers, quarantine hotel staff, international shipping workers, and international flight crews.
The expanded list means that over 630,000 people are now eligible for vaccination.
On Monday, Central Epidemic Command Center officials Chen Tsung-yen and Lo Yi-chun received COVID-19 vaccinations at Taoyuan General Hospital. The hospital was at the centre of a COVID-19 cluster infection earlier this year, leading to 21 cases and one death.
Chen says he hopes that the sight of two government officials getting the vaccine will encourage others to get one too. As of last Thursday, Taiwan had only vaccinated about 20,000 people. To date, Taiwan has received two shipments of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, containing over 300,000 doses in total.
The head of Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Wu Shou-mei, says the second shipment of vaccines has passed inspection. She says that a shipment of around five million doses of the Moderna vaccine will arrive in May at the earliest.
The Food and Drug Administration has not yet granted emergency use authorization for the Moderna vaccine. The FDA chief says she will make an announcement when she has an update on the vaccine’s authorization status.