News
BNT jabs to start on 23 September
Education Minister Pan Wen-chung says the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC)will begin the vaccination of some 1.25 million 12-17 years olds with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on 23 September.
According to Pan, junior and senior high school students will have the choice of receiving the vaccine either at their school or at a hospital.
However, those who attend elementary or overseas schools, or are being home-schooled, will have to go to a hospital to receive their jabs.
And any students who develop side effects after receiving their shot will be allowed to take vaccination leave, which will not be reflected in their attendance records, Pan said.
Students who develop side effects after getting the vaccine will be allowed to take vaccination leave, which will not be reflected in their attendance records.
That vaccination leave can last up to three days, including the day the shot is administered, and can be extended if necessary.
The education minister says his office will announce the appointment dates soon.
Parents need to give their consent before teenage students can get the BNT vaccine.
The Ministry of Education has sent notices to junior high and high schools nationwide reminding school authorities to secure parents' written consent before administering the shots.
In other vaccine news, the CECC says a new round of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccinations will begin next Wednesday.
According to health officials, the new round means that some one million people will be able to get either their first or second shots of the vaccine.
People who received their first AstraZeneca jab before 3 July will be eligible to make appointments for their second dose while those aged between 18 and 22 who registered on the government vaccination website prior to 19 July and listed AstraZeneca as one of their choices will be eligible to book their first shot.
The website will be open to make appointments from 10am this Friday through to noon on Sunday.
The latest AstraZeneca vaccination period will run from 15-23 September.
Meanwhile, people aged 20 and over can now get a shot of the locally developed Medigen vaccine without having to make an appointment on the government website and they can directly contact any of the hospitals or clinics that offer the vaccine, and can obtain the jab between now and 11 September.
