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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaPolitics

Coronavirus: Taiwan relaxes rules for vaccine imports as deaths mount

  • Health minister says local authorities and businesses will be able to bring in doses but conditions apply
  • Island reports 557 new infections and 19 deaths as it continues to battle outbreak

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Taiwan is battling a coronavirus outbreak that has killed 45 people over the past three weeks. Photo: AFP
Lawrence Chung
Taiwan will let local authorities and businesses import coronavirus vaccines on their own as the island struggles to secure enough doses for its 23.5 million people.
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The decision, announced by Health Minister Chen Shih-chung on Friday, came as Taiwan reported a further 557 new cases and yet another record of 19 deaths.

Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Centre, said on Friday that prospective importers of the doses would have to meet a series of conditions set by the Food and Drug Administration, including submitting a plan detailing the efficacy, quantity and storage of the jabs.

“The first step is for the local authorities and businesses to authorise a pharmaceutical agency to apply for the import,” he said.

“Buying vaccines is not an easy job and there is also the time limit of the usefulness of the vaccine to consider.”

02:46

Cross-strait politics gets in the way of Taiwan’s desperate need for Covid-19 vaccines

Cross-strait politics gets in the way of Taiwan’s desperate need for Covid-19 vaccines
The administration of President Tsai Ing-wen had earlier rejected calls by lower-level authorities to buy the vaccines on their own, prompting criticism that the government was disregarding human life amid the surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks.
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