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Taiwan seeking vaccines from U.S. amid COVID surge

ROC Central News Agency

05/18/2021 08:15 PM

Taipei, May 18 (CNA) Taiwan is trying to secure more COVID-19 vaccines from the United States, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday after United States President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. will send 20 million vaccines overseas by the end of June.

In a press statement, MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said the ministry has been negotiating with the U.S. for vaccines since last year.

She said that Taipei and Washington will continue their cooperation in combating the pandemic, citing a joint statement issued on March 18, 2020 regarding these efforts.

In a speech delivered at the White House on Monday, Biden said that 20 million vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson stockpiles, will be supplied overseas within the next six weeks.

However, he did not reveal to which countries the vaccines will be going.

Prior to this, the U.S. had pledged to send 60 million AstraZeneca doses abroad by the same date.

The procurement of vaccines has become an urgent issue in Taiwan recently amid a wave of cluster infections, which prompted the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to raise its four-tier COVID-19 alert to Level 3 for Taipei and New Taipei, where most cases were detected.

According to CECC data, the COVID-19 situation in Taiwan has worsened rapidly since May 15, when 180 domestic cases were recorded. Following that, 206, 333 and 240 domestic cases have been recorded daily to date.

Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), Taiwan's representative in the U.S., told reporters in Washington that she has made known to the U.S. side Taiwan's wish to acquire vaccines.

According to Hsiao, Taiwan has procured two batches of vaccines from the U.S. through commercial channels, in which some AstraZeneca doses had been delivered already, with Moderna doses expected to arrive in Taiwan beginning June.

Overall, Taiwan has signed contracts with various sources to purchase nearly 20 million vaccines, including 5.05 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, 10 million doses of AstraZeneca and 4.76 million doses of unspecified brands through the COVAX program.

To date, however, Taiwan has taken delivery of 117,000 vaccine doses purchased directly from AstraZeneca and 199,200 doses of the same brand supplied through COVAX.

According to the CECC, 220,352 individuals in Taiwan have been vaccinated as of 10 a.m.Tuesday.

(By Chiang Chin-yeh, Evelyn Kao and Emerson Lim)

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