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 The proposed purchase of 5 million doses, which would be distributed
among the general population, comes after the government ceded to
pressure from opposition parties to allow companies, religious
groups and local governments to arrange imports.
The Taiwanese government's own deal with BioNTech fell through
earlier this year - a problem Taiwan has blamed on pressure from
Beijing. China has denied the accusation.
BioNTech declined to comment.
Gou, who has retired from the world's largest contract manufacturer,
said on Saturday they hope to airlift the shots from Germany to
Taiwan without going via any middlemen.
Taiwan Health Minister Chen Shih-chung expressed his gratitude to
Gou and said the government was reviewing the application.
After recording just a handful of daily infections for months,
Taiwan is now dealing with relatively large numbers of community
transmissions.
It has vaccinated less than 2% of its 23.5 million people, but has
almost 30 million shots on order from AstraZeneca Plc, Moderna Inc
and two domestic firms.
While it welcomes help in obtaining vaccines from companies and
religious groups, Taiwan's government has stipulated that only it
can distribute the shots. Companies and other groups must also
provide letters of authorisation from the original manufacturer.
Gou's office said they had provided all the documentation the
government had requested.
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd has a contract with
BioNTech to sell the vaccines in Greater China, including to Taiwan,
but Taiwan's government says it has and will only deal with BioNTech
in Germany and that it does not trust vaccines from China.
[to top of second column] |
 Fosun did not respond to a
request for comment on Foxconn and Gou's plans.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office, in a statement to
Reuters, reiterated that it was Fosun's
commercial right to sell the BioNTech vaccine to
Taiwan and that China's government was
coordinating with "relevant parties" on the
island to talk to Fosun. It gave no details.
Outside of Greater China, BioNTech has partnered
with Pfizer Inc.
Taiwan's Buddha Light International Association
has also proposed importing up to 500,000 shots
of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine.
Chao Yi, the association's president, said they
would be seeking to get in touch with the U.S.
pharma giant this week after it had previously
expressed willingness to sell the group
vaccines. The association is working on the
documentation required by the government.
However, Johnson & Johnson said it was only
negotiating with government bodies and
supranational organisations like the European
Commission for vaccine purchases.
"We are not working with or through third
parties for vaccine access during the current
emergency pandemic period," it said in a
statement to Reuters.
Taiwan's infection numbers are starting to
retreat, but Chen said the island could not be
complacent. Numbers have fallen for the past six
days, with 327 new cases reported on Tuesday.
"We don't have the capital to relax," Chen said.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee;
Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom;
Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Chizu Nomiyama)
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