Additional gov't-funded flu vaccines to be rolled out from Feb. 20

Taipei, Feb. 12 (CNA) An additional 105,000 publicly funded flu vaccine doses will be made available to eligible individuals in Taiwan from Feb. 20, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Wednesday.

In a statement, the CDC said that TTY Biopharm Co. had won the NT$12.705 million (US$386,816) contract to supply the cell culture flu vaccines, which are suitable for children over 6 months old, adolescents and adults.

The CDC had been asked to procure the additional doses by the Executive Yuan in response to soaring demand for flu vaccines.

Administration of the additional doses is expected to start on Feb. 20 as planned for individuals aged 65 and over, infants over 6 months old, preschool children and those at higher risk of contracting the flu, the agency said.

The government-funded vaccines will be distributed to local health bureaus on Feb. 17, which will then send the vaccines to their planned vaccination sites, the CDC said in the statement.

At a press event Wednesday, CDC deputy head Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) advised at-risk individuals to get vaccines soon once they become available to prevent serious illness and death.

Tseng said that if the flu vaccination rate for at-risk groups is not as high as expected, the CDC may launch a second round of free flu vaccination campaigns.

Taiwan has seen a surge in vaccination demand driven by the death of actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) at the age of 48 from flu-related complications on Feb. 2.

Last week, a daily high of 73,000 government-funded influenza vaccinations were given, with the vaccine stockpile to run out soon, CDC data showed.

As such, the government decided to purchase an additional 100,000 doses of the influenza vaccine for at-risk groups, according to the CDC.

The government is offering free flu vaccines to all unvaccinated residents aged 6 months or older starting Jan. 1 until the vaccine supply is used up.

As of Feb. 10, 6.573 million publicly funded flu vaccines have been administered, with 13,000 doses left, according to CDC data.