The nearly 1.8 million people in Taiwan who received the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for the Omicron BA.1 subvariant will be eligible for another booster against the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants as soon as Saturday.
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) requires at least three months between BA.1 and BA.4/BA.5 boosters, and because the BA. 1 jabs were first administered on Sept. 24, the first recipients of the BA. 1 booster can get the bivalent BA.4/BA.5 jab starting on Dec. 24.
There have been 1.799 million people vaccinated against the Omicron BA.1 subvariant in Taiwan to date, meaning they will be eligible for the BA.4/BA.5 booster in the coming weeks, CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (???) told reporters Friday.
Taiwan began the rollout of the Moderna vaccine against BA.1 on Sept. 24, and the one against BA.4 and BA.5 on Nov. 18. Taiwan still has 920,000 doses of the BA.1 version and 2.21 million doses of the BA.4/BA.5 version in inventory, the CECC said.
CECC data showed that as of Dec. 22, 94 percent of Taiwan’s population had received at least one dose and 88.8 percent had gotten at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 75 percent had received a booster.
According to the CECC, 18.9 percent of the population had received a second booster, though among people aged 65 or older that percentage was 43.7 percent.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel