At present, only Moderna next-gen COVID-19 vaccines are available in Taiwan. Hon Hai founder Terry Gou recently lamented that his elderly mother isn't able to get a BNT next-gen vaccine and the CECC took offense. Health and Welfare Minister Hseuh Jui-yuan derided Gou on Dec. 21, questioning if he's working for BNT as a sales rep.
Hon Hai founder Terry Gou recently asked why the government hasn't purchased BNT's next-gen COVID-19 vaccines, forcing the population to bear the risks of mixing and matching vaccines. Health and Welfare Minister Hseuh Jui-yuan responded while at the legislature on Dec. 21, questioning if Gou is working as a sales representative for BNT.
Hsueh Jui-yuan, Health and Welfare Minister: “Chairman Gou said this? It sounds more like something you'd hear from a BNT sales rep.”
According to Hsueh, Taiwan still has about four million Moderna next-gen vaccines and studies show there are no problems mixing and matching primary series and boosters from BNT and Moderna, since both are mRNA vaccines. Meanwhile, the Lunar New Year is approaching and China has relaxed pandemic restrictions. There are concerns that a huge number of Taiwanese businesspersons in China returning home for the holiday will become a threat to Taiwan's communities. The CECC fanned the flames, predicting the end of January and the beginning of February as the next peak and warning that the daily caseload could surpass 20,000.
Victor Wang, Commander, Central Epidemic Command Center: “The epidemic situation is slowly rising. My personal estimate is a daily caseload of over 20,000 during the peak period. That's likely to happen.”
There are hopes that the mini-three links can be resumed before the holiday. Hsueh said the Mainland Affairs Council will make an announcement and there are currently no plans to implement more stringent disease prevention measures for people traveling from China to Taiwan.
BNT次世代疫苗話題持續發酵。鴻海集團創辦人郭台銘日前質疑，台灣為何不採購BNT次世代疫苗，讓民眾必須承擔換疫苗的混打風險。對此，衛福部長薛瑞元21日在立法院回嗆表示，郭台銘像是BNT的推銷員。
衛福部長薛瑞元說：「這個是郭董講的嗎？聽起來好像是BNT的那個推銷員。」
薛瑞元指出，目前國內還有400萬劑左右的莫德納次世代疫苗，研究也顯示，莫德納跟BNT都是屬於mRNA疫苗，追加劑混打不會有問題。此外農曆春節即將到來，外界擔憂近期中國解封、疫情升溫，若大量台商返台，恐怕對台灣社區造成威脅。疫情指揮中心預估，下波疫情高峰會落在1月底、2月初，每日確診數恐破2萬例。
中央流行疫情指揮中心指揮官王必勝表示：「現在我們的疫情，正好在這個緩步上升當中。那我想我自己估計是，每日大概高峰的時候會破2萬例，這應該是會的。」
至於外界關心，小三通是否有望在農曆年前復航？薛瑞元強調，將由陸委會發布，目前也沒有要對中國返台旅客採取加嚴措施。