CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan receives first shipment of Novavax vaccine

Taipei, June 30 (CNA) Taiwan took delivery of its first shipment of Novavax COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX on Thursday morning.

The 504,000 Novavax doses arrived at Taoyuan International Airport on board China Airlines flight CI-74 from Amsterdam, the Netherlands at 7:03 a.m.

The vaccines doses will be transported to a cold storage warehouse, where they will be inspected ahead of an expected July 8 rollout.

The 504,000 doses, which will expire on Sept. 30, are the first part of Taiwan's order of 2.268 million Novavax vaccines from COVAX, the rest of which will be delivered by the end of the year.

Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Novavax jab on June 18, after reviewing the vaccine's quality, safety and efficacy data.

Under the EUA, people aged 18 and above will receive two 0.5-mL doses given three weeks apart.

The vaccine can also be used as a first or second booster shot.

To date, 91.28 percent of Taiwan's population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, 83.31 percent has gotten at least two doses, and 70.1 percent has received a booster shot, according to data from the Central Epidemic Command Center.