Vaccine donation shows Taiwan as `peace creator:' president
ROC Central News Agency
2009/12/02 17:01:01
By Chiu Chun-chin and Y.F. Low
Taipei, Dec. 2 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou said Wednesday that Taiwan's offer to donate influenza A(H1N1) vaccine to the World Health Organization (WHO) has helped feature the country as a "peace creator" and "disseminator of love." The government announced last month that it is planning to present 500,000 doses of the vaccine to the WHO for distribution to countries in need, after an ongoing free vaccination program for local citizens is complete.
Mentioning the offer during a trip to the Taoyuan General Hospital to visit children hospitalized with the new flu strain, Ma described the vaccine manufactured by Taiwan's Adimmune Corp. as being of very high quality.
Many of Taiwan's diplomatic allies in South America were amazed by the country's biotechnology achievements when they learned in July that it was going to produce the vaccine in October, he said.
The president further cited the results of an opinion survey that show that 70 percent of the respondents were prepared to be vaccinated against influenza A(H1N1).
Of these respondents, 75 percent said they were not considering limiting themselves to imported vaccine manufactured by the Novartis multinational company, Ma said.
Those who said they would accept only imported vaccine and those who said they would accept only locally produced vaccine accounted for 12 percent and 11 percent, respectively, he added.
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