More than 3 million people take Taiwan's public flu vaccinations in 2 weeks

Taipei, Oct. 17 (CNA) More than 3 million flu vaccines and nearly 1 million COVID-19 vaccines have been administered under a publicly-funded program launched two weeks ago, with both types of vaccinations in Taiwan up significantly from a year earlier, health authorities said on Saturday.

From Oct. 1-16, 3,151,137 people in the 11 groups eligible for the first phase of the publicly funded program received flu vaccines, while 988,347 received COVID-19 vaccines, according to the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The figures were 15.8 percent and 39.7 percent higher than the number of people who got the flu and COVID-19 vaccines, respectively, in the same period last year, CDC data showed.

In the first phase of the program, health care workers, people age 65 or older, pregnant women, children, and those with underlying health conditions were eligible for free vaccinations.

The second phase begins on Nov. 2 and will cover people ages 50 to 64 without high-risk chronic illnesses.

As of Friday, 55.5 percent of health care workers, 31.8 percent of preschool children, and 32.7 percent of people ages 65 and older have been vaccinated with flu vaccines, CDC data showed.

Although flu and COVID-19 cases declined this week, a significant proportion of cases were severe, CDC spokesperson Lin Min-cheng (林明誠) said.

Lin urged people in high-risk groups to get vaccinated ahead of the long holidays and local election-related activities in the coming weeks to reduce their risk of infection.