Government Accused of Stealing Credit for Donations / 民間購捐疫苗 傳政府被質疑卡關.事後搶功

Hon Hai Precision Industry and TSMC are both expected to donate five million doses of the BNT vaccine to the government. However, Reuters has now reported that the pharmaceutical's Chinese agent sought access to Taiwanese medical records, a term which was later rejected. 

Japan has already donated 2.37 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines in two batches to Taiwan. But the Foreign Affairs Minister of Japan, Motegi Toshimitsu, announced yet another one-million doses donation of AZ vaccines on July 13.

Motegi Toshimitsu, Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister:"We have decided to supply an additional one million vaccine doses each to Indonesia, Vietnam, and Taiwan. These vaccines are scheduled to arrive at their respective destinations on the 15th."

It is the third time Taiwan receiving vaccines from Japan. Motegi also said the Japanese government knows that Taiwan continues to face vaccine shortages, and it hopes to help Taiwan control its epidemic situation through the donation of vaccines. Along with 10 million doses of the BioNTech vaccine purchased and donated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Yonglin Education Foundation of Hon Hai Precision Industry, these donations will immensely improve Taiwan's vaccine coverage rate.

However, some public figures have accused the government of setting obstacles in the procurement process for Hon Hai and TSMC but now trying to take all the credit after the fact.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that BNT's Chinese sales agent, Fosun Pharma, had sent a template contract seeking access to Taiwanese medical records.

Su Tseng-chang Premier, Republic of China:"The public and private sectors worked together. Our government team united everyone and we overcame so, so many challenges and issues. During the entire (contract signing) process, what the government most insisted on was legality, safety, and validity. We accomplished that, we achieved those."

Tzu Chi Foundation is also in talks to donate five million BNT vaccine doses to the government, which will help to further make up for Taiwan's vaccine deficit. There are reports that the foundation may sign the contract by July 13 at the earliest.

The Central Epidemic Command Center did not elaborate when asked about this issue, only saying that the mechanism used for working with Hon Hai and TSMC will be used to assist Tzu Chi Foundation.

日本連續兩波無償提供台灣AZ疫苗，總共237萬劑後，外務大臣茂木敏13號上午再宣布，再捐100萬劑AZ疫苗給台灣。

日本外務大臣 茂木敏：「將對印尼、越南、還有台灣，決定追加提供各100萬劑疫苗。這些疫苗，預定將在15號送到各國家區域。」

這是日本第三度捐贈台灣新冠疫苗，茂木敏指出，日本政府理解台灣持續面對疫苗不足的情況，希望藉由提供疫苗，有助台灣控制疫情。再加上台積電、鴻海與永齡合購的1千萬劑BNT疫苗，可望大幅提升台灣的疫苗覆蓋率。

只是台積電、鴻海簽約買疫苗的過程，部分人士質疑政府卡關，事後搶功，路透社更報導，上海復星曾一度在合約要求取得台灣民眾的醫療紀錄。

行政院長蘇貞昌：「因為公私合作，我們政府的團隊協力大家一起

克服好多好多的困難和問題，在這(簽約)整件事情過程中，政府最堅持的就，一定要合法安全有效，我們做到了我們守住了。」

如果再加上慈濟順利簽約的500萬劑BNT疫苗，台灣疫苗供應將會更充足，傳出慈濟基金會最快13號有望完成簽約，對此，指揮中心低調回應，有了鴻海、台積電模式，會按這個機制繼續協助慈濟。