First Batch of Novavax Vaccines Arrives 首批Novavax疫苗50萬劑運抵 效期至9/30

The first batch of Novavax COVID-19 vaccines obtained through COVAX arrived at Taoyuan International Airport on June 30. The expiration date of this batch is Sept. 30.

The first batch of Novavax COVID-19 vaccines totaling 504,000 doses obtained through COVAX arrived at Taoyuan International Airport on June 30. The vaccines cleared customs and will now undergo inspection. The expiration date of this batch is Sept. 30. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices convener Lee Ping-ing urged the Food and Drug Administration to rapidly complete the inspection so that people aged 18 or under can get the Novavax vaccine and leave protein subunit vaccines for groups at high risk of developing myocarditis.

Lee Ping-ing, Convener, Advisory Comm. on Immunization Practices: “The Novavax vaccine offers a protection of 80 to 90 percent, and it has very few adverse effects. Only about 1 to 3 percent developed a fever. It can be used as a first dose, a third dose, or a fourth dose.”

There have been numerous cases of MIS-C lately. Doctors say an American study showed that the rate of occurrence is three out of 10,000. In Taiwan, 600,000 children have tested positive, so there may be 100 to 200 MIS-C cases.

Lee Chien-chang, Attending Physician, Dept. of Emer. Med., NTU Hospital: “A study involving the BNT vaccine showed that the risk for those aged 12 to 18 that got two doses declined by 91 percent. Right now, all studies show the most effective way to prevent MIS-C is to get vaccinated.”

Doctors say vaccines can help to prevent MIS-C. MIS-C normally occurs two to six weeks after COVID-19 infection. Taiwan reached its peak at the end of May, so the next one to two weeks should be the MIS-C peak period. The daily caseload for the past several days has been around 40,000. Doctors say current trends show that the epidemic situation has not slowed down.

Huang Li-min, Honorary Chair, Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan: “If there is no way for domestic cases to decline, that means the R0 value is over 1. If it's around 1, then a new strain may enter. ”

In other words, the government needs to examine which cities and counties are still seeing a rise in the number of cases and determine if the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are circulating domestically.

國內透過COVAX機制獲配的首批Novavax疫苗50.4萬劑，30日上午運抵桃園國際機場，完成通關程序後，將進行後續檢驗封緘作業。這批效期至9月30日。  衛福部傳染病防治諮詢會預防接種組召集人李秉穎呼籲，食藥署應盡速審核，讓18歲以下的青少年可以接種Novavax疫苗，將次單位蛋白質疫苗留給容易引發心肌炎的敏感族群。

李秉穎表示：「Novavax的疫苗它的保護效果，也是80%到90%之間，它的不良反應非常少，發生發燒的比例大概只有1%到3%而已，它可以做為一開始接種的疫苗，也可以做為接續第3劑、第4劑的疫苗。」

近期陸續確認多起兒童MIS-C通報，醫師示警，美國研究統計MIS-C發生率約萬分之三，依國內目前兒童確診數約60萬人來估計，全台灣可能會有100多名到接近200名MIS-C個案。

台大醫院急診醫學部主治醫師李建璋指出：「BNT疫苗的研究，他們就是比較有打兩劑疫苗的，在12到18歲的族群下降91%，打疫苗目前是所有的研究裡面，對預防MIS-C最有效的方法。」

醫師認為，打疫苗是降低MIS-C風險的好方法，由於MIS-C通常在感染新冠2到6週發生，以國內5月下旬確診達高峰來推估，現在這1到2週將是MIS-C的高峰期。至於近日單日確診個案稍緩，但過去兩天病例數又回到4萬多例。有醫師分析，依趨勢來看，代表疫情並沒有持續下降。

台灣感染症醫學會名譽理事長黃立民認為：「如果本土的數字降不下去，就代表R0值沒有在1以下，而是維持在1左右，可能發生的是第一個，有新的病毒株比較會傳的，跑進來了。」

醫師表示，換句話說，除了要檢視目前有哪些縣市病例數還在增加，另一項隱憂則是Omicron新變異株BA.4、BA.5是否在國內流行，應該進行本土病例偵測。