Nearly 100,000 Moderna doses arrive in Taiwan

近 100,000 劑 莫德納疫苗抵達台灣

Doses arrive at Taoyuan via Luxembourg on Sunday afternoon


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A fifth batch of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, containing 99,600 doses, arrived from Luxembourg at Taoyuan International Airport on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 8), CNA reported.

The doses will be distributed by the government based on preexisting plans after testing and lot release procedures, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

So far, 1.25 million doses of Moderna purchased by the government have arrived.

According to the latest vaccine registration data, 3.96 million people in Taiwan have selected Moderna as the only vaccine they would accept.

CECC Spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said on Sunday that going forward, less than a million people will be vaccinated with Moderna for their first shots.

Chuang said that as of now, Taiwan has got its hands on a total of 8.55 million doses of Moderna, including 6.05 million purchased by the government and 2.5 million donated by the U.S. government. The 8.55 million doses are enough for 4.27 million people to be fully vaccinated with Moderna.

However, 2.9 million people in Taiwan have already received their first Moderna shots, while 157,000 people have also received their second.

The plan of administering over 500,000 doses of Moderna in the fifth round of vaccination will cover 435,000 people getting their first dose and 65,000 getting their second, the spokesperson said.

He added that the 2.9 million people who already received a first dose of Moderna plus the 435,000 people who will get their first shot in the fifth round comes to 3.335 million. That means the number of people who can get Moderna for their first dose in the future will be less than a million, he explained.