Taiwan is expected to receive two batches of over 2.63 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine next week, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Thursday.

A shipment of 1.857 million doses for use on adults is expected to land in Taiwan on May 9 and will be administered later this month to those aged between 12 and 17 as boosters, according to the CECC.

In addition, a 777,600-dose batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use on children aged 5-11 is expected to arrive in Taiwan at 6 a.m. on May 12, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (???) said Thursday.

The shipment, part of a procurement deal for 4 million doses signed on April 28, is scheduled to depart from Frankfurt, Germany on May 11, Chen told reporters during the recess of a committee hearing at the Legislative Yuan.

Taiwan received 2,000 doses of the child version of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday, but these were for testing purposes only, according to the CECC.

After Taiwan takes delivery of the 777,600 Pfizer-BioNTech doses, the Food and Drug Administration expects to spend seven days testing the vaccines, with the aim of administering them to children before May 20, according to Chen, who also heads the CECC.

A survey on people’s willingness to have their children inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine will be conducted in the near future, Chen added.

On April 28, Taiwan’s government signed a deal to purchase around 4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, consisting of 1.8 million doses for adults and 2.2 million doses for children.

The FDA has already authorized the vaccine for use on children aged 5 to 11, with the recommendation that they wait at least 12 weeks after their first dose before receiving their second.

Child doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine contain one-third of the dose given to those 12 and older, according to the CECC.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel