Cases Among Young People on the Rise 20到39歲年輕人確診率 一週內升到42%

The epidemic situation in Taiwan is slowly stabilizing. However, experts say it's still worrying that young people, who have a more active lifestyle, now account for 42 percent of all cases, compared to just 15 percent in May.

The epidemic situation is slowly stabilizing, but numerous cases of household cluster infections have emerged. Moreover, many confirmed cases are young people, including department stores, cinemas, and gym employees. People aged 20 to 39 now account for 42 percent of all cases, compared to just 15 percent in May.

Lee Ping-ing, Member, Specialist Advisory Panel, CECC：" If the number of cases among young people is rising, then we can expect the number of severe cases and deaths to decrease. Young people of course are more active, and their ability to transmit the virus is also stronger. This is something that we should worry about."

Doctors say the majority of young people who get infected have mild cases. They may bring the virus back home to family members. Senior citizens and children are high-risk groups. The Central Epidemic Command Center says it has already asked local governments to target young people in prevention and cure. For example, they can encourage people with symptoms to seek medical treatment and get tested. The CECC also intends to speed up vaccination and open it up to more age groups. Those aged between 12 and 18 will be targets for the BioNTech vaccine.

Voice of Huang Li-min, Honorary Chair, Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan：" (BNT) has already completed clinical trials in the US, and a group of people aged 12 to 18 has already been vaccinated. There have been no issues with safety or antibody production. The results are about the same as with adults. They're probably using this information to apply to come here for the vaccination of those at least 12 years of age."

Meanwhile, Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corporation's vaccine has already been granted emergency use authorization and it will be allowed to manufacture them. The CECC will convene a meeting of experts to determine the targets of the vaccine and to decide whether to allow vaccine mixing. If everything proceeds smoothly, Medigen's vaccine could show up as one of the options on the government's vaccine reservation platform.

新冠本土疫情趨於穩定，不過近期疫情以家庭群聚為主，而且年齡層下降，包括百貨公司櫃姐、京站威秀影城員工、以及健身男教練等，通通都確診新冠肺炎，20到39歲年輕人確診比率，從今年5月的15%，最近一週上升到42%。

中央流行疫情指揮中心專家諮詢小組委員 李秉穎表示：「年輕人增加的話，我們可以預期，他的重症死亡的比率會降低。當然那個年輕人活動力強，他傳染病毒的能力，會比較強一點，這個是值得憂慮的地方。」

醫師表示，年輕人染疫大多為輕症，可能將病毒帶回去給同住家人，尤其老人跟小孩是高風險族群，指揮中心表示，已請地方政府將防治重點、納入青年族群，例如鼓勵疑似症狀者就醫及採檢，也會加速疫苗接種、向下開放年齡層，其中包括將12到18歲青少年，列為BNT疫苗接種對象。

台灣感染症醫學會名譽理事長 黃立民表示：「它(BNT)在美國已經做完臨床試驗，它在12到18歲已經打了一批人，而且確定它的安全性，跟抗體產生都沒問題，跟成年人差不多。那它大概就利用這些資料，來國內申請說，它在台灣也要擴增到12歲。」

至於國產高端疫苗已通過緊急使用權EUA審查，並允許專案製造，指揮中心近期將由專家開會討論，高端的施打對象，以及是否允許開放混打等問題，若順利通過，高端疫苗也有機會成為疫苗預約平台的選項之一。