In an effort to protect the health of Taiwan’s population, the Central Epidemic Command Center is now allowing all Taiwan residents to get COVID-19 booster shots. Those with low immunity have priority.
Everyone in Taiwan can now get COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, but interest in them on the first day seemed low.
Doctor Luo Yuan-chang from the Primary Care Association says that there might be two reasons for that -- in many cases, not enough time has elapsed since people received their second shot, while others might have felt bad after their second dose and want to switch to a different brand.
Less than half a percent of Taiwan’s population has received a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The Central Epidemic Command Center has made two kinds of booster shots available: add-on boosters and baseline protection boosters.
Add-on boosters can be administered five months after the second dose. There are four brands available.
Baseline protection boosters are given to eight categories of people with low immunity and can be administered only 28 days after the second dose. Only three brands are available, with the exception of AstraZeneca, which is less effective for this purpose.
Doctor Luo says that people who are in good health should choose the same brand of vaccine they received for the first two doses as their booster shots, with the exception of AstraZeneca, which isn’t recommended.
Doctors say that in countries where the pandemic situation is more serious, more effective mRNA vaccines should be used for third doses. Since Taiwan is not seeing large numbers of cases, people can consider the possible side effects before making their choices.