Taiwan seniors can get second COVID JN.1 vaccine shot from April 8: CDC

Taipei, April 1 (CNA) People aged 65 and above in Taiwan will be able to receive a second shot of a vaccine targeting the JN.1 variant of COVID-19 from April 1, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

A total of 1,900 emergency room visits for COVID-19 were reported across Taiwan last week, up 4.9 percent from a week earlier, though the overall number of severe infections is still quite low, Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳), deputy director of the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center, said at a regular news briefing.

Over 90 percent of severe infections in recent weeks have involved patients who had not received the JN.1 vaccine, the CDC said.

Although Taiwan currently offers both the Moderna and Novavax JN.1 vaccines, the 66,000 remaining Novavax shots are due to expire on April 5, the CDC said.

From April 8, however, the CDC will open up second shots of the (Moderna) JN.1 vaccine for those aged 65 and above, Indigenous people aged 55-64, and people with weakened immunity, the health agency said.

According to CDC data, 17.95 percent of people aged 65 and above and 8.65 percent of the general population had received a dose of a JN.1 vaccine through March 31.