More than a hundred thousand people in Taiwan have registered their willingness to take the AstraZeneca vaccine in less than 24 hours. That’s ahead of the 5pm deadline on Monday for the first round of vaccinations arranged with Taiwan’s brand new nationwide system for online registration.
This round of vaccinations is geared toward priority group nine (people 18 and over with high-risk chronic conditions), and group ten (all people 50 and over). People who meet the criteria will receive a text message from health authorities between Tuesday and Thursday. They can then register online to get a jab as quickly as Friday.
The online registration system allows users to select the type of vaccine they are willing to receive: Moderna or AstraZeneca. Users can also say they are willing to take either vaccine.
Digital Minister Audrey Tang told a press conference on Sunday that Taiwan currently has a lot more AstraZeneca doses than Moderna doses. She says that means that people who are unwilling to take the AstraZeneca vaccine will probably not get a shot until the fourth round of appointments.
In the time span between Tang’s comments at around 2pm on Sunday and 9am on Monday morning, about 110,000 people selected AstraZeneca as a vaccine preference.