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Bookings for new COVID-19 vaccination round to start Nov. 11

ROC Central News Agency

11/09/2021 05:55 PM

Taipei, Nov. 9 (CNA) Around 3.86 million people eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine jab during the next round of vaccinations planned for Nov. 13-24, can book appointments starting Thursday, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said.

People aged 18 and above, who registered on the government's COVID-19 vaccination website before 2 p.m. on Nov. 5, can book an appointment to get the AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccine, if they have not received their first jab, Chen said during a press briefing of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) Tuesday.

Those who had their first Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech shot on or before Oct. 16, or the AstraZeneca vaccine on or before Sept. 18, will be able to make an appointment to receive the second shot needed to be fully vaccinated, according to Chen.

Booking will start at 10 a.m. on Thursday for people choosing the AstraZeneca vaccine, and at 2 p.m. for the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, before the COVID-19 vaccination site stops accepting appointments at noon Friday, Chen said.

 

Before Tuesday's announcement, people who had the Moderna vaccine as their first jab had to wait for at least 10 weeks -- instead of the 28 days recommended by the manufacturer -- before receiving a second shot, because of supply issues.

Only medical workers, airline crew and pregnant women were able to get the second Moderna shot four weeks after their first shot, as they are considered to be at higher risk from the coronavirus.

The latest announcement followed the CECC's decision on Nov. 6 to reduce the interval between the two AstraZeneca shots from 10-12 weeks to eight weeks.

During the first week of November, Taiwan received two shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine, totaling 736,000 doses; and 1.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, the second shipment being donated by the United States.

To date, 74.93 percent of Taiwan's 23.43 million population have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 38.35 percent have been fully vaccinated, CECC data showed.

(By Chang Ming-hsuan, Chiang Hui-chun and Kay Liu)

Enditem/AW