Taiwan is set to receive 1.95 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine between late August and early September. That was the word from Health Minister Chen Shih-chung in an interview Friday morning.
These doses were originally destined for China, but the deal with the Chinese purchaser later fell through. That’s because Beijing has not given emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The doses were then put up for grabs by other countries, and Taiwan beat out Turkey to secure them.
The doses are expected to arrive in several shipments in the coming days and weeks.
Taiwan will then receive even more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in September or October. That’s thanks to separate deals struck with the manufacturer by Taiwanese tech giants Foxconn and TSMC as well as Taiwanese Buddhist charity the Tzu Chi Foundation.