People Aged Over 36 Eligible for Domestic-made Medigen Vaccine 國產疫苗高端 今開放36歲以上民眾預約

Amid controversy and debate, Taiwan-made Medigen COVID vaccinations will start on Aug. 23, with people aged 36 and above eligible to register. The registration process is a bit of a headache though, as the reservation system crashed on the first day due to heavy traffic.

“Hi, would you please help me book an appointment for Medigen vaccination? “

Ms. Chen arrived at the pharmacy early in the morning to get registered for Medigen vaccination. Because she is predisposed to having allergies, she did some research and decided on Medigen as her choice of vaccine.

Ms. Chen:” I'm been waiting for a long time for Medigen to get rolled out because I feel like it is safer for me.” 

People who are 36 years of age and over and who have indicated willingness to receive the locally developed Medigen COVID-19 vaccine can start booking vaccination appointments on August 16. At least 600,000 doses will be distributed across the island, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said. The government's online system soon crashed after a swarm of people went online to make bookings.

Huang Yen-ju, Spokesperson, Federation of Taiwan Pharmacists Associations:” The system seriously crashed during registration for the first round of vaccination. It took some patience as each person took more than 10, 15 minutes to get registered successfully. It wasn't that bad for the following rounds, but this time the system started crashing again. I think there's definitely a lot of people this time wanting to make bookings.”

A demonstration showed that it took about 20 minutes for someone to get registered successfully. Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp. (MVC) has recently filed a Phase 3 clinical trial application with Paraguay's regulatory authority and has been given the authorization to initiate subject recruitment.

Voice of Lee Szu-Hsien, Executive Vice President, Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corporation:” COVID-19 in Paraguay is serious; the death toll has risen to nearly 15,000. Paraguay is in urgent need of aid.”

Meanwhile, the United Biomedical Inc. (UBI) has finished submitting an EUA application to Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (FDA). UBI says they will take full responsibility for its already-produced UB-612 vaccines should EUA not get approved. 

「你好，麻煩一下幫我預約高端。」

陳女士一早來到藥局，來請藥師協助登記，預約施打高端疫苗，她說，自己因為有過敏體質，看過相關資料後，很早就決定選擇國產疫苗，也趕在第一時間，就來預約。

陳女士：「等高端等很久了，因為我一直都很想打高端，因為我覺得對我而言，它比較安全。」

16號開始預約的公費疫苗，針對36歲以上民眾開放，提供60萬劑國產高端疫苗，疑似是網頁瞬間湧入大批民眾預約，系統一度當機，重新嘗試登入後，選擇施打地點，又卡住。

藥師公會全聯會發言人黃彥儒：「只有第一輪的那間，就是第一次的那次，我們大概十幾分鐘，人多了就開始當機。後來的每一輪都沒有這情況，這一次又遇到。可能又比較多人在搶的狀態。」

記者實測發現，十點開始預約的民眾，大約花費二十分鐘，才完成登記，而高端除了即將開始施打，也證實，13號已經向巴拉圭衛生單位，申請了緊急使用授權EUA，持續規劃與執行第三期臨床試驗。

高端副總李思賢：「當地其實他新冠肺炎的疫情還是非常的嚴重。那你可以看到說目前死亡人數已經大概將近1.5萬人了。所以整個上他是有一種緊急的需求。」

而另一家國產疫苗聯亞生技，則已完成EUA資料補件，目前等待衛福部食藥署審查，聯亞表示，萬一緊急授權未過，已預先生產的疫苗，公司會自行處理，吸收全部成本。