Foxconn founder Terry Gou has submitted all the necessary paperwork for a plan to purchase five million doses of the BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from Germany. He is making the purchase through his Yonglin Foundation, as Taiwan faces both a shortage of vaccines and its largest domestic outbreak of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Gou said on his Facebook page that buying vaccines is not easy, as the world is dealing with a pandemic. Gou said he would work closely with the government and do all that the government requires during this process.
At the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) press conference on Wednesday, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said they have received the foundation's application but it is missing one item: authorization from BioNTech that it has the vaccines for this order and will supply them.
Gou is one of Taiwan’s most prominent business tycoons. He ran in the opposition Kuomintang’s presidential primary for the 2020 presidential race. His move to buy vaccines comes amid public criticism of Taiwan’s vaccine shortage and the government’s inability to get a supply of the BioNTech vaccine in particular.
On May 27, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung revealed that a contract with BioNTech to buy five million vaccine doses was postponed after the firm asked Taiwan to remove the words “our country” from its press release about the purchase. Health officials changed the phrase to “Taiwan”, but BioNTech then responded that it needed to adjust the timeline for signing the contract. The government has yet to secure any doses of the BioNTech vaccine.
As Taiwan continues to try and get a supply of the BioNTech vaccine, German officials have stepped in to help. On Facebook, German Institute Taipei Director General Thomas Prinz said that the German government, and economics minister Peter Altmaier in particular, is talking with BioNTech to assist Taiwan. But he also mentioned that the government can’t control the signing of contracts, and that contracts are up to signing parties.