Severe cases, deaths from influenza reach 10-year high: CDC

Taipei, Nov. 19 (CNA) The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday that from Oct. 1 to Nov. 18, there were 219 cases of severe complicated influenza, among which 34 people died, marking a 10-year high for both numbers in the same period.

At a press conference, CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said that as cold air masses are likely to arrive in Taiwan in the coming weeks, cases of influenza or respiratory infectious disease are expected to rise even more.

He called on those eligible for free jabs of the new COVID-19 and flu vaccines to get vaccinated so as to avoid developing severe symptoms and the risk of death.

Q&A: Taiwan's free flu and COVID-19 vaccination program

All of the 34 individuals who have died in this year's flu season had not received a flu vaccine jab, according to the CDC.

Meanwhile, all of the new cases of severe complicated COVID-19 in the period had also not been vaccinated, the CDC added.

CDC statistics as of Nov. 14 also showed that the vaccination rate for public-funded influenza vaccines has declined about 10 percent from the same period of last year, which may be a result of a typhoon and a vaccine discoloring incident, which resulted in one batch of vaccines being destroyed.

Starting on Nov. 15, the CDC launched a program to incentivize vaccinations for seniors and children in which medical institutions receive NT$50 (US$1.54) or NT$75 for each jab administered to an elderly person or a child, the CDC said.

From Nov. 15-18, the number of vaccines administered was 165,000, up 26 percent from the same period last week, Lo said.

The rebound in vaccinations may be thanks to the award program and the temperature dropping last week, Lo added.

In total, around 5.05 million public-funded influenza vaccine jabs have been administered, with 1.386 million remaining. Regarding COVID-19 vaccinations, around 1.278 million jabs have been administered, 2.6 times the number in the same period last year (498,000), the CDC said.

This was also the first year the influenza and COVID-19 vaccine programs were launched at the same time.

Currently, there has been one reported death after taking the two vaccinations simultaneously. The deceased individual was a male in his 40s who was resident in a care institution, had arrhythmia and was taking latent tuberculosis infection medication.

The man showed no discomfort in the first four days after receiving the jabs, but was found without vital signs on the fifth day.

The local health bureau has followed up with his family according to protocol, but they have not filed for vaccine injury compensation, according to the CDC.

In addition, the Keelung City government said Tuesday that a 59-year-old is believed to have died from adverse effects after simultaneous vaccinations.

The individual received the jabs on Sunday without any immediate discomfort, but experienced chest pain that afternoon and was proclaimed dead after being taken to hospital.

Lo said the city's Health Bureau and relevant authorities are currently investigating the case.

The CDC has yet to receive a vaccine injury compensation case report and will immediately provide related assistance if and when it does, Lo said.