《TAIPEI TIMES》 New AstraZeneca batch arrives in Ta

FIFTH SHIPMENT: The nation on Wednesday administered 163,459 vaccine doses, bringing the total to 9,433,236 doses: 8,867,289 first doses and 565,947 second doses

By Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter, with CNA

Another 524,800 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Taiwan yesterday, as the nation’s vaccination rate for those having received their first dose reached 37.78 percent.

The batch was transported on a China Airlines Ltd （中華航空） flight from Bangkok that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at about 3:25pm.

The delivery was the fifth batch of doses that the nation received as part of a contract for 10 million doses signed with AstraZeneca PLC on Oct. 30 last year, the Central Epidemic Command Center said.

The first batch of 117,000 doses was delivered on March 3, followed by 626,000 doses on July 7, 560,000 doses on July 15 and 582,000 doses on July 27, it said.

Yesterday’s shipment, which brought the total delivered so far under the contract to about 2.41 million, is to expire on Dec. 31, the center said.

They would be offered through the national COVID-19 vaccination program after the Food and Drug Administration completes its lot release testing, the center said.

On Wednesday, the nation administered 163,459 COVID-19 vaccine doses, bringing the total to 9,433,236 doses — 8,867,289 first doses and 565,947 second doses, the center said.

The total equates to a first-dose vaccination rate of 37.78 percent, or 40.19 doses administered per 100 people.

While only COVID-19 vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Moderna have been administered in Taiwan so far, the nation expects to begin administering the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by local drugmaker Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp （高端疫苗） on Aug. 23.

On Tuesday, referring to the US’ donation of vaccine doses to Taiwan, US Senator Tammy Duckworth told an online event held by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies that “even though it was just 750,000 initially, the first tranche, we’re now well over 4 million vaccines to Taiwan.”

Her comment led people to speculate that the US might donate additional COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan, as Washington sent 2.5 million Moderna doses in June.

After Duckworth had announced during a brief visit to Taipei that same month with US senators Dan Sullivan and Chris Coons that the US had pledged to donate 750,000 doses to Taiwan, the figure was increased by 1.75 million doses.

However, the Central News Agency cited an anonymous source as saying that the US had no plan to donate more doses to Taiwan, and that Duckworth likely misspoke.

Department of North American Affairs Deputy Director-General Regine Chen （陳慧蓁） told a news conference yesterday that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US had confirmed with Washington that there is no information on further donations.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES