CORONAVIRUS/New round of AstraZeneca, Medigen vaccination to start Oct. 6

A new round of COVID-19 vaccination during which people can receive their second shot of either the AstraZeneca or locally developed Medigen vaccine will begin on Oct. 6, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Tuesday.

 

In the new round, people 50 and above who got their first AstraZeneca vaccine shot on or before July 22 will be able to get their second shot of the same brand, the CECC said.

 

People who received their first shot of the locally developed vaccine by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp. on or before Sept. 8 will be eligible to receive their second dose of the same vaccine brand as well, the CECC said.

 

Individuals aged 50-64 who want a second AstraZeneca jab or those going for a second Medigen jab have to register their information on the government’s 1922 vaccine platform by Wednesday noon for them to be able to make an official appointment.

 

Those who have registered previously do not need to do so again.

 

People will be able to make appointments through the 1922 platform from 10 a.m. on Oct. 3 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 4. The vaccination period will be Oct. 6-12, according to the CECC.

Meanwhile, people aged 65 and over who got their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on or before July 22 will be notified by local health authorities when and where they can get their second shot, the CECC said.

 

Also on Tuesday, the CECC said Taiwan reported seven new COVID-19 cases, one transmitted domestically and six contracted overseas.

 

The sole domestic case was a Taipei resident in his 50s who took a COVID-19 test on Monday in preparation for going abroad. The result came back positive on Tuesday, according to Taipei’s Department of Health.

 

The man worked from home in the three days prior to getting tested, the CECC said, and he has not shown any symptoms of the disease so far nor gotten any vaccines for COVID-19.

 

Health authorities are currently looking into how he became infected, the CECC said.

 

Of the six imported cases, three were Taiwanese nationals who recently returned from Vietnam, the United States and Singapore, while the other three were citizens of Japan and the U.S., the CECC said.

 

They all tested positive for the disease during their mandatory 14-day quarantine in Taiwan.

 

To date, Taiwan has confirmed a total of 16,205 COVID-19 cases, of which 14,416 are domestic infections reported since May 15, when the country first recorded more than 100 cases in a single day.

With no new deaths reported Tuesday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 fatalities in the country remained at 842, with all but 12 recorded since May 15, CECC data showed.

 

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel