CORONAVIRUS/Fourth batch of Japan-donated COVID-19 vaccines arrives in Taiwan

Taoyuan, Sept. 7 (CNA) A total of 64,000 doses of the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine donated by Japan arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday afternoon, the fourth such donation made by Tokyo to Taipei so far.

The Japan Airlines JL809 flight carrying the vaccines from Tokyo touched down at Taoyuan International Airport at 1 p.m.

Soon after their arrival, the vaccine doses were transported to the designated cold chain warehouse and sealed for inspection.

According to Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), a portion of the donated vaccines will expire on Oct. 3 and the rest will expire on Nov. 26.

Plans are underway to assist Japanese expatriates in Taiwan in getting the AZ vaccines donated by Japan if they so desire, according to the CECC.

The latest donation was the fourth that Japan has made to Taiwan during the pandemic, bringing the total to more than 3.4 million doses, more than any other country that has donated COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan.

Japan first donated 1.24 million doses of AZ to Taiwan on June 4, followed by 1.13 million doses on July 8, and 970,000 doses on July 15.

The donation was made after Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi announced Friday that Tokyo would soon donate 440,000 AZ vaccines to Asian countries, including Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, but he did not specify how many doses each country would receive.

In response, Taiwan expressed its thanks for the latest donation, especially coming at a time when Japan is seeing a severe rise in domestic COVID-19 cases.

Donating vaccines when doses are being unevenly distributed globally is a true act of friendship, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said.

To date, Taiwan has taken delivery of approximately 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, around 6 million of which were donated by other countries.

The United States is the second largest vaccine donor to Taiwan after Japan with a donation of 2.5 million doses of the Moderna brand vaccine, followed by Poland, which donated 400,000 doses of the AZ vaccine.