Taipei:Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced plans to procure nearly 500,000 additional doses of influenza and COVID-19 vaccines due to high demand for publicly funded shots, which have been available since October 1.

According to Focus Taiwan, CDC Director-General Lo Yi-chun stated that the agency intends to acquire an additional 300,000 doses of influenza vaccines and 174,000 doses of Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine. The additional doses are expected to arrive at local health departments by early November if the procurement process goes smoothly.

Since the start of the publicly funded vaccination program on October 1, approximately 2.27 million flu vaccine doses and 781,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, marking increases of 15.7 percent and 45.5 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year. This surge in vaccinations has been partly attributed to a new incentive program offering digital "health tokens" to vaccinated adults. Adults aged 18 and older can receive 450 tokens for a flu shot and 900 for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Taiwan secured about 7.05 million flu vaccine doses for the 2026-27 season, marking the first time over 7 million doses have been procured. Additionally, 2.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses were purchased, including 2.2 million Moderna doses and 200,000 Novavax doses.

Despite a recent decline in flu activity, it remains at epidemic levels, as indicated by CDC data. Last week, outpatient and emergency visits for flu-like illnesses totaled 128,847, a decrease of 8.9 percent from the prior week. The CDC also recorded 144 new severe flu cases and 46 deaths during the same period.

COVID-19 activity has also decreased, with 5,261 related outpatient and emergency visits last week, down 35.2 percent from the previous week. There were 21 new domestic severe cases and 15 deaths reported.