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Taiwan receives 2nd donation of COVID-19 vaccines from Japan

ROC Central News Agency

07/08/2021 05:42 PM

Taipei, July 8 (CNA) A shipment of 1.13 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses were delivered to Taiwan on Thursday as a donation from Japan, its second in recent weeks.

The vaccines will be reserved for people aged 50-64 and for those 18-64 who suffer from serious illnesses or conditions that put them at risk of severe COVID-19 infection, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said at a press briefing later in the day.

Chen thanked Japan for the donation and said inspection of the vaccine shipment will be expedited to allow for faster distribution.

The 1.13 million vaccine doses donated by Japan were developed by the British-Swedish biotech company AstraZeneca and manufactured under license in Japan.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tuesday that the vaccine donations were a gesture of gratitude for Taiwan's aid to Japan in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit his country in 2011.

Motegi said he hopes the vaccines will help curb the spread of the virus in Taiwan, where daily confirmed cases have gradually flattened but a high alert for COVID-19 remains in place due to sporadic cases of the highly infectious Delta variant of the virus.

Following Japan's supply of 1.24 million doses of AstraZeneca to Taiwan last month, its donations now total 2.37 million shots.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Tuesday thanked Japan for the vaccine donations, saying on Twitter that they reflected the friendship between the two countries.

To date, Taiwan has taken delivery of about 7 million doses of AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines from Japan, the United States, vaccine manufacturers, and via the global vaccine sharing initiative COVAX, government data showed.

As of Thursday, approximately 2.89 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in Taiwan, with 12.12 percent of the population having received at least one jab, according to the data.

(By Yang Ming-chu and Teng Pei-ju)

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