I’m not taking about getting one shot of two different vaccines.
I’m taking about getting both shots of two different vaccines.
Two AZ and two Pfizer or Moderna is considered ideal by many.
Or a vaccine that has a viral vector vaccine and an mRNA vaccine combined. Some are in development now.
I’m scheduled to get my first AZ shot next week. Yay!
Can anyone confirm, with solid sources, the following…
When will the next shipment of AZ arrive in Taiwan?
This current batch will expire before I can get my 2nd shot. Correct?
Accompanied an older friend to China Medical in Taichung for his vaccination. A bit more spacious and well organized than Taichung Hospital, but still fairly small space with ALL of the stations all next to each other. It also took about 2 hours (includes 30 min. rest time) to get through it all. So much time wasted just sitting in a line to register and sit in a crowded space waiting for the doctor to ask a few simple questions. Also at China Medical for the vaccine they simply wrote AZ and didn’t include the batch number…not sure if that matters but just something I noticed.
Also some a few hospital staff ask the volunteers if they had to get in line like everybody else…thankfully the volunteer loudly said “of course!”… Still hospital staff and volunteers are provided no additional PPE besides a mask and maybe gloves for people scanning healthcare cards at the entrance, no face shields or dividers at all…also saw quite a few people sitting by near the buildings smoking and coughing in the general area where people are walking to get into the hospitals…the security should be directed to make them put their mask or or have them leave to somewhere with no one around to smoke and cough.
It’s been a few months since vaccination has started in Taiwan and there has been plenty of time to prepare…the process needs to be streamlined and be made safer rather than letting it become a potential hotspot for clusters.
Likewise, next Tuesday is the big day for myself and partner - being over 65 we get the free shots. En Chu Kong Hospital in Sanxia being the location.
I dont know when the next shipment is due, and they generally havent advertised them in advance. And YES, I think the doses on hand will expire if not used by the time the second shot is due.
One batch of the AZ does expires at the end of May, and the other on June 15, so before any one who got the self-pay vaccines is eligible for the second dose. Not sure about your first question, I think I read that more were due by June, but I haven’t heard anymore and I know that there’s a shortage of AZ in Europe and Canada at the moment, sadly.
Welp looks like the Taiwanese vaccines aren’t the only thing getting pushed back…
Taiwan’s representative to the United States on Friday said she is working to guarantee that shipments of the U.S.-made Moderna COVID-19 vaccine arrive in the country in June…
This isn’t the solid source you’re asking for, but it seems that some hospitals are still making appointments for the second shot after the expiry date of the current batches. NTUH gave me an appointment for the first week of July, for example. I did ask the doctor if they’d actually have any more doses by then, and he mumbled something along the lines of it not being an issue as more would arrive.
I can’t help but think it’s a bit too late to be relying on vaccines now - even if the 5 million doses arrive by mid-June, you’re still talking about only 10-20% of the population having partial immunity several weeks or a couple of months after that.
This is still a better situation than other countries were in a year ago, of course, but hopefully the current outbreaks can be brought under control by other means. Because vaccination would take forever.
You are now getting into highly dangerous territory which should not really be published on this forum
Do what’cha gotta do.
Because the actions of countries like Canada and the US instill fear instead of confidence.
It sends a terrible message when your actions suggest that you’re only offloading the shitty ones even when they’re not shitty.
not an issue because countries don’t share vaccination records. you don’t have to tell them you already got a dose.
Multiple studies are underway and results of the com-cov study at Oxford are coming out in June. Regardless of the efficacy of mixing two doses, the risk of reduced efficacy no longer presents itself with the third dose being an mRNA vaccine. One dose AZ, two doses Pfizer /Moderns cannot possibly lead to reduced efficacy.
I don’t think the preference for the mRNA vaccines is misplaced. They seem to have fewer serious side effects and the data shows they have higher efficacy especially against the variants. Also, the mRNA technology makes developing boosters a lot faster and the boosters won’t have the problems the AZ and J&J boosters will have.
There is no date, but it’s subject to long delays and not due to arrive anytime soon.
Unless they think like the airlines and over book
Sure, but. The message those two countries have sent out is worrying.
We don’t want them, do you want them?
Why don’t you want them?
Self Paid vaccine program is closing from 31st May onwards, so those hoping to pay for 1st or 2nd jab next month are SOL 
Pfizer is fuggedabutit. The intermediaries from China won’t allow it. Chen already said so.
Moderna and J&J depend on US production/vaccination.
AZ is having production delays, being sued by EU because if delays…and has a bad rep.
The other thing is few countries, maybe Israel or US, are making significant inroads in mass vaccination. In the old country they have vaccinated over 1/4 of the population yet they have reached a point where they see 3000 cases per day. The people stay home to die stage as there is no room in hospitals…or morgue.
Think of the desperation in Honduras that they took the Chinese vaccine. Yet the wave keeps growing and dunno where it will crest.
AZ isn’t even approved in the US. The US has more than enough Pfizer, Moderna and J&J so it makes sense to give the unneeded AZ vaccines to other countries.
I get that what big countries do has an impact and this needs to be a global effort but I don’t think we should lose sight of the fact that countries also have a responsibility to drive uptake of whatever vaccines they have.
Pilots and air crew, quarantine hotel workers, medical staff. Taiwan should have been on these people to vaccinate. Of course you can’t force people to vaccinate in a free country but you sure can use incentives. Carrots and sticks. If you’re air crew and want shortened quarantine or quarantine at home, you must be vaccinated. If you want to work at a quarantine hotel, employers can require you to be vaccinated and give the hotel incentives to require it. Stuff like that.
But Taiwan’s own president won’t take AZ!