Taiwan Premier, Health Min, medics get COVID jabs

Health care workers and government officials received the first shots in Taiwan's COVID-19 vaccination drive Monday, beginning a campaign that won't use supplies from China amid uneven distribution of the vaccines globally.

Taiwan has on hand 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which it is distributing to workers across 57 hospitals.

Last week, more than a dozen nations suspended use of the AstraZeneca jab after a few dozen people among the millions who've received the vaccine developed blood clots.

The European Union's drug regulatory agency concluded after a review it could not rule out a direct link but the benefits of using the vaccine outweigh the possible risks.

Hou Sheng-mao, the Superintendent at Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, received the shot and said there was "no need to panic".

Taiwan has signed contracts securing 10 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, 5.05 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, and 4.76 million doses of vaccines through COVAX.

Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang launched the drive by receiving the first shot at National Taiwan University Hospital in the capital Taipei.

Currently, Taiwan has recorded 1,006 confirmed cases of COVID-19, most of those from visitors coming from abroad.

It has been one of the most successful places in the world in the battle against the pandemic, owing to strict public health and border control measures.

Taiwan has yet to announce a vaccination campaign for the public.

Taiwanese law bans import of Chinese vaccines made for human use.

Countries around the world are scrambling for vaccines, which have been distributed unevenly with rich countries buying up a majority of the doses.

China has stepped in to offer hundreds of millions of doses of its own vaccines across the developing world, but Taiwan has refrained from buying them.