Taiwan Aims To Secure More COVID-19 Vaccines After Spike In Infections - Foreign Ministry

Taipei is using all leverage to get more COVID-19 vaccines as authorities race to avert an explosive spread of infections, Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou said

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th June, 2021) Taipei is using all leverage to get more COVID-19 vaccines as authorities race to avert an explosive spread of infections, Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou said.

The island had stood out for managing to contain drastic spread of coronavirus throughout the pandemic, but a spike of cases in May has dashed hopes that overall infection rates would remain below 10,000. Ou noted that the issues of purchasing, reselling, donating, and transporting vaccines require solving many complex and specialized tasks, the Radio Taiwan International reported, quoting the spokesperson.

"We ask the citizens of the island to be understanding. In this process, it is necessary to overcome many difficulties and resolve technical issues. As soon as the details of other countries' vaccine donations become known, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will immediately inform the public about this," Joanne Ou added.

Meanwhile, the island's health minister Chen Shih-Chung confirmed on Monday that another 410,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered to Taiwan on June 30. He noted that the issue of expanding the categories of people subject to vaccination will be decided by a special commission of the Health Ministry. He also said that Taiwanese companies TSMC and Foxconn received government approval to purchase the vaccine.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the death toll in Taiwan stands at 635 people, and the number of detected cases is over14,600 people.