A shipment of 600,000 doses of Moderna’s second-generation COVID-19 vaccine will arrive in Taiwan on Wednesday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Monday.
The vaccine, which targets the original COVID-19 virus and the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, will be available in Taiwan for the first time after the shipment and is applicable as a booster for people 12 years old and over, according to the CECC.
Taiwan has only ordered 600,000 doses of the new Moderna vaccine thus far, and the CECC did not say if more doses would be ordered in the future.
The new vaccine’s rollout is likely to start on Nov. 18, providing that all the necessary procedures after delivery go smoothly, CECC Head Victor Wang (王必勝) said.
Currently, the majority of the COVID-19 infections in Taiwan are caused by the Omicron BA.5 virus, the CECC said, citing sequencing data from last week.
There have also been at least two cases of the BA.2 subvariant in Taiwan and the first domestic BQ.1 subvariant infection, the data showed, the CECC said.
Second-generation COVID-19 vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, which were granted emergency use authorization (EUA) in Taiwan on Oct. 26, will be offered as booster shots to people aged 12 and over, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Taiwan has yet to order any doses of the new Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
To date, 74 percent of Taiwan’s population has received one booster shot, 16.1 percent two booster shots, and 1.36 percent three boosters, CECC data shows.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel