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Medigen vaccines to begin on 23 August
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung says the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) will begin administering Medigen's locally-produced coronavirus vaccine on 23 August.
According to Chen, although it's been confirmed that at least 600,000 doses will be available, it's still hoped that 800,000 doses will be rolled out on that date.
The health minister says 1.06 million people have indicated their willingness to receive the Medigen vaccine since it was added as a choice in the nationwide vaccination appointment system on 27 July.
Those interested in receiving the vaccine can indicate their willingness on the vaccination appointment system before noon tomorrow.
Official appointments can be booked from 10am on 16 August through noon on the 18th to get the first of two shots, and appointments will be scheduled for 23-29 August.
The CECC says figures show that just over 37% of Taiwan's population of 23.5 million have received their first coronavirus shot, while 2.2% have now received the two doses needed to be fully vaccinated.
In other vaccine news, The CECC says 33,000 front-line medical personnel will start mixing
Covid-19 vaccines on Friday.
The CECC announced earlier this week that those workers who had already received one shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine at least 10 weeks ago are eligible for a second dose of a mRNA vaccine, which means Moderna for now.
In the future people can choose the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as well.
The CECC says another 44,000 high-risk medical workers should be eligible for their second dose of Moderna in the coming weeks, and it will prepare the vaccines for them.
Many medical personnel at clinics are upset that they're not included in the drive, saying that they should also get better protection because the chances of them coming into contact with coronavirus patients are high.
