The health ministry last month approved the emergency use of Medigen
Vaccine Biologics Corp's COVID-19 vaccine, part of a broader plan
for inoculation self-sufficiency as delays in vaccine deliveries
from global drug companies have affected Taiwan and many other
countries.
Tsai, who had held off using vaccines from Moderna Inc or
AstraZeneca Plc, the current mainstay of Taiwan's vaccination
programme, received her Medigen shot at a hospital in central
Taipei, demonstrating her confidence in the safety of the vaccine.
Tsai chatted to medical workers as they prepared her shot, the whole
process being broadcast live on her Facebook page, and gave a short
response of "no" to a shouted question from reporters about whether
she was nervous.
"It doesn't hurt, I'm in good spirits, and I'm going to continue
working for the day," she later wrote on Facebook.
The government says the initial experience of the pandemic last
year, when basic supplies such as face masks were in short supply,
made it realise they had to be able to rely on themselves for
critical materials.
Medigen, whose Chinese name literally means "high-end", rejects
claims its vaccine is either unsafe or that it has been sent to
market with undue haste, saying it is effective and well tested.
"We have done so many experiments, everyone has seen how safe our
vaccine is," Medigen's Chief Executive Officer Charles Chen told
Reuters.
CONCERNS
The recombinant protein vaccine has been developed in collaboration
with the National Institutes of Health in the United States, and the
government has ordered an initial 5 million doses. It says nobody
will be forced to get it.
The vaccine has yet to finish clinical trials and no efficacy data
is available, but the government says studies so far have shown that
antibodies created by the shot have been "no worse than" those
created by AstraZeneca's vaccine.
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Taiwan's main opposition party,
the Kuomintang, or KMT, has mounted a fierce
campaign against the shot, saying that while it
supports domestic vaccines, Medigen's approval
has been rushed.
"There is no need for the lives and health of
the Taiwanese people to serve as white rats in a
laboratory," Ho Chih-yung, deputy head of the
KMT's international department, told Reuters.
Around 40% of Taiwan's 23.5 million people have
received at least one shot of either of the
two-dose AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccines, though
fewer than 5% are fully vaccinated.
However, unlike some other parts of Asia, Taiwan
faces no huge pressure to accelerate its
vaccination drive, with domestic infections well
under control. It has reported 15,932 infections
since the pandemic began, including 828 deaths.
Taiwan has received more than 10 million vaccine
doses to date, and in July ordered a further 36
million doses of Moderna's.
People who spoke to Reuters in Taipei after
getting the Medigen shot said they had no
particular concerns about it.
"I think my body is pretty good because I do
dragon boat racing, so I can be a lab rat," said
bank worker Wu Meng-ru, 30.
(Reporting by Fabian Hamacher; Writing by Ben
Blanchard; Editing by Sam Holmes and Jacqueline
Wong)
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