Taiwan is expected to review an application for emergency use authorization (EUA) of the Pfizer-BioNTech second-generation COVID-19 vaccine next week, Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Victor Wang (王必勝) said Wednesday.
Pfizer-BNT has submitted data to Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its new vaccine which targets the original strain of the coronavirus and the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5., Wang said at the CECC’s daily press conference.
The FDA will convene a meeting next week at the earliest and take delivery of the vaccine as soon as possible once EUA is granted, he said.
If EUA is granted, Pfizer-BNT’s updated vaccine will be the first BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine available in Taiwan.
The FDA granted EUA for the bivalent Moderna vaccine (original and omicron BA.1) for adults aged 18 years old and above in September.
Meanwhile, Wang said that as domestic COVID-19 cases have continued to trend downward this week compared to last week, infections could start to fall.
Taiwan reported 44,628 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, a 14.7 percent decline from a week ago, according to the CECC.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel