Health Minister Chen Shih-chung says the government has not miscalculated when it comes to Taiwan’s latest delivery of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines. Chen’s comments on Monday come after local and former government officials raised doubts that Taiwan will be able to use the doses before they expire.
On Saturday, Taiwan took delivery of 594,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses with an expiration date of November 30. That prompted criticism from Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je and former Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang, among others.
On Monday, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung defended the decision. He says right now, there are 1.08 million people who had their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine over 10 weeks ago, meaning they are due a second dose. In addition, there are a total of 2.26 million people who had their first dose more than eight weeks ago. That’s why Chen says there is enough demand to use up the vaccines before they expire.
Chen says AstraZeneca offered to send 1.6 million doses in the latest delivery, but Taiwan authorities decided that would be too much, and settled for 594,000.
Chen has also criticised Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je for implying that health official Chuang Jen-hsiang has a low IQ. Chen says a person is more than simply their IQ, and Ko’s language is inappropriate.