Taiwan says it has accomplished checks on AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, which some European nations have suspended.
Taiwan has given regulatory approval to AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine and may begin giving the primary inoculations as early as Monday, Well being Minister Chen Shih-chung stated.
Taiwan’s first vaccines – 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca shot – arrived on the island earlier this month.
In a video assertion late on Wednesday, Chen stated the doses, which got here from a South Korean manufacturing unit, had cleared the final of the checks by Taiwan’s Meals and Drug Administration.
The purpose is to start out shelling out them from as early as Monday, he added.
Taiwan is prioritising well being employees within the first wave of its vaccination programme and about 60,000 individuals are in line to get the primary vaccinations, Chen stated.
The self-ruled island took early motion to suppress the COVID-19 pandemic and has managed to maintain complete circumstances beneath 1,000, stamping out outbreaks with a strict quarantine and testing system.
In December, Taiwan stated it had agreed to purchase nearly 20 million vaccine doses, together with 10 million from AstraZeneca.
Greater than a dozen European nations have suspended use of the vaccine amid issues about its security following experiences of blood-clotting incidents. Tens of millions of doses have been given with out adversarial impact and the World Well being Group stated on Wednesday it considers that the vaccine’s advantages outweigh its dangers, recommending that vaccinations proceed.
Taiwan’s authorities has performed down issues concerning the late begin to its vaccination programme, stating that its low case charge means the urgency is just not as excessive as in nations the place the pandemic stays rampant.
Solely 24 individuals are in hospital being handled for COVID-19 in Taiwan.