CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan receives 600,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children

Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) Taiwan took delivery Monday of a shipment of about 600,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged between 6 months and 4 years old, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The 624,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses arrived at Taoyuan International Airport on Monday morning, and were transferred to a cold chain logistics center to undergo inspection, CECC spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said at a press briefing.

The new batch of vaccine doses expires on April 30, 2023, Chuang added.

According to the CECC, the vaccine for children aged between 6 months and 4 years old will be administered in three 0.2 milliliter doses.

A minimum interval of 21 days between the first two doses will be required, and recipients will have to wait at least another eight weeks before receiving a third shot.

All of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses purchased this year for young children have been delivered, the CECC said.

According to the epidemic center, Taiwan earlier this year inked deals to purchase 3.3 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11, 1.9 million doses for young children aged 6 months to 4 years, and 1.8 million doses for adults.

The last time the country received this vaccine, made specifically for children aged 6 months to 4 years, was Aug. 19 and comprised 1.27 million doses.

To date, 93.9 percent of Taiwan's population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 88.3 percent have gotten two doses, and 73.9 percent have received a booster shot, CECC data shows, while 15.4 percent of people in Taiwan have received a second booster shot since the initial rollout of the additional vaccine dose began in May.