East Coast Starts Administering Vaccine Shots 花東兒童疫苗開打 高中以下續暫停實體課

The East Coast area also received the Pfizer-BNT vaccine for children this week. All physical classes from high school level and below will continue to be suspended in Hualian and Taitung counties,  due to high infection and mortality rate. 

The Pfizer-BNT vaccine has been offered to children across the country. Taitung County opened a centralized vaccination station for children aged 5 to 11 on the evening of June 1. The vaccination station in Taitung City is at Bausun Junior High School Activity Center. Taitung County sent mascots to appease the children. Vaccination stations in non-urban areas have been set up at local county health centers. Originally, the appointment rate was not high as parents were worried about the vaccine's side effects. However, some parents brought their children to get vaccinated without an appointment, increasing the vaccination rate to 90 percent.

Mr. Lu, Parent: “I am worried too. Because there are still side effects. We still have to avoid it. But the pros outweigh the cons.”

Taitung County has also launched in school vaccinations for children starting on June 2. Students who have been staying at home have gone back to school specifically to get vaccinated. Taitung County will work hard to vaccinate all children aged 5 to 11 in the county before June 10 so children go back to school. Currently, high schools and below in Taitung County have suspended in-person classes until June 10. Hualien County has suspended classes until June 8. This decision has many parents bewildered. However, both counties' education departments emphasized that students will be required to provide negative rapid test results before being allowed back at school.

Tseng Jo-mei, Head, Academic Mgmt. Section, Education Dept., Hualien County: “Teachers and parents were willing to temporarily suspend live teaching. Physical classes will be suspended until June 8 as we make time for students to be vaccinated.”

Lin Cheng-hung, Director, Education Department, Taitung County: “Suppose classes resume in two weeks. Do we want to do quick screening tests before resuming classes? We will look into this because this also depends on whether the number of quick screening tests is sufficient or not.”

The Hualien County Government stated that rapid tests have already been delivered to all schools, but Taitung County Education Department said that it may still require one to two thousand tests for school children. It will strive to get enough rapid test kits for its schools before they restart physical classes. 

BNT兒童疫苗送到花東，台東縣在昨天1日晚上特別為5歲到11歲兒童開闢集中疫苗施打站，市區在寶桑國中活動中心，台東縣出動吉祥物安撫兒童，而鄉鎮地區在衛生所來開打。原本家長擔心疫苗副作用，預約率並不高，不過後來有家長臨時又帶小孩來打，衝高了施打率到9成。

家長呂先生說：「也是會擔心啦，因為副作用還是會有啦，還是要避免，但是利大於弊。」

2日起，台東縣也展開校園兒童疫苗施打，還在停課的學童，特地回到學校來打疫苗，台東縣力拼在6月10日前，打完縣內所有5到11歲學童疫苗，趕快讓學童回到學校正常上課，目前台東縣高中以下停課到10日。而花蓮縣停課到8日，但這樣的決定讓許多家長感覺怪怪的。不過2縣的教育處都強調，復課前會要求學生快篩陰性才能回到校園。

花蓮縣教育處學管科長曾若玫說，「師長們、家長們對於暫時實體課程期間的意願，以及學生打疫苗的期程，所以做了暫停實體課程到6月8日。」

台東縣教育處長林政宏表示，「假設在下下禮拜復課，要不要先做一次的復課快篩，這個我們會研究，因為這個也要看我們，快篩準備的量夠不夠。」

花蓮縣政府表示，校園快篩試劑已經送到各校，但台東縣教育處說，目前公費提供給兒童的快篩試劑數量，可能還需要1000到2000劑，會在復課前努力爭取補足各校公費快篩劑。