If you’re now residing in Taiwan (i.e. not here for a short visit as a diplomat), I’d encourage you to consider getting one of the vaccines actually recognized here: BNT, Moderna, AZ, or (if you feel like supporting a Taiwan company) Medigen. You’d be starting off as a first dose, with subsequent doses to follow. There’s no charge for citizens and noncitizens alike. Would you be open to this? If so, have a look at this thread for details:
Guy
Thank you for your reply. I can wait till summer to get fully re-vaccinated (because my shots expire in June) or get a booster shot of Pfizer, as I thought.
But even if I can get fully re-vaccinated, my husband will not be able to. He has just got his 1st dose of Sinopharm and was planning to do the booster shot of Pfizer here in about 6 months. He is a Taiwanese citizen. Would it be possible?
If Taiwan has no record of your vaccination history I don’t see why you couldn’t just get a first shot as your “booster”. Then you’d also have the option of getting more later if you’d like.
I’m with @bananas on this. If you’re thinking of getting an mRNA vaccine as your booster, just get going on this (it will be listed as a first shot on your records here). Taiwan’s currently sitting on a large stockpile of these vaccines, so there would be (at least for now) no problem with availability or eligibility.
Good luck!
Guy
I wouldn’t bother trying to get the Chinese shots/certification recognized, either. Does the CDC even recognize Sinopharm or Chinese vaccination certificates? Maybe they’d try to make you go to the Straits Exchange Foundation to get it notarized or something weird like that.
Seems like it’d be more hassle than it’s worth anyway. I’d just start again with the first shot as a full dose.
I wouldn’t have too much faith in the meaning of “expire” here. It’s probably mostly BS, and it definitely isn’t an exact value.
The booster shots are only highly effective for two months or so it seems, dropping to 35% effectiveness within three months (at least for preventing infection, they probably help with protection from serious illness ). Should we get them now or later? What d’ya all reckon. The big lump of people eligible for boosters is three months out.
The next big chance of local outbreaks is when people come to TW for lunar new year and “home-quarantine” for the 2nd half of their two weeks. I’d try to time it that the protection is greatest when that time starts.
They are already coming back I think? From what I could see from charts the greatest protection is at two weeks post shot. It basically shoots up exponentially and then rapidly falls within two months. So from numbers of 10,000 plus titre at peak dropping to 350 within three months.
Yep, seems to be starting. I’m trying to get my booster “now”.
This time the vaccination record appeared quickly in the NHI app and it has the batch number.
The authorities in Taiwan trying to harmonize records with the EU; perhaps that’s why new details on the app are now appearing?
Disclaimer: I have no insider knowledge about this; it’s pure speculation.
Guy
Adventist Hospital still has free 3rd shot appointments (BNT vaccine 3rd shot 5 months after 2nd shot) for tomorrow 28th and thursday 30th:
https://www.tahsda.org.tw/Register_en/add_sub.php?sub=0B3
There are more details in the mandarin version, where you can also check the other possible vaccines for 3rd shot (google translate says “supplemental”). Only BNT seems to have available appointments right now, Moderna seems full: COVID-19疫苗注射預約 - 基督復臨安息日會醫療財團法人臺安醫院 Taiwan Adventist Hospital
Gonna try and book mine tomorrow–should be 5 months I think. Wanna squeeze it in before CNY so I can have a day off work for it rather than waste a day of the holidays.
Got my booster in NTU today, arrived just after 10.30am and was out the door at 10:55, including the 15min wait for a heart attack time! No queues but also almost no signage, certainly nothing in English on where to go plus had to deal with 6 steps (at entrance check appointment and get form, another appointment check desk, fill out form desk with check, take form and assign number, check number and sign log, quick check with doctor) before the actual vaccination, process seems to have gone backwards since my previous shot there.
So far zero side effects, arm not even particularly sore. Nice to be in the 1% club again!
I will never not be amazed at how shit important Taiwanese websites are.
The information on Mackay’s website is … shoddy at best. I assume “vaccine supplement” means booster?
But it is only showing one slot … on 12/31, which is full? And that’s for Moderna. Which surely can’t be right–surely you can book any day for your booster. And my first two were AZ. And it’s only showing Tamsui as the place to get booster–which again, doesn’t seem accurate?
Moderna is the default booster in Taiwan. Other vaccine types are also possible now if you wish to receive them, but AZ is not recommended for this purpose due to its comparative lack of efficacy. Based on this chart, zero AZ boosters have been administered so far.
Guy
Cheers
I wanted AZ again because of the news from the UK that it’s behind the lower death toll than mainland Europe.
But I’d settle for any really if I can get past Taiwan’s god awful registration system.
Here’s what the UK authorities are recommending. I hope this helps.
Most people [in the UK] will be offered a booster dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine or Moderna vaccine.
This means your booster dose may be different from the vaccines you had for your 1st and 2nd doses.
Some people may be offered a booster dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine if they cannot have the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.
Source: Booster dose of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine - NHS
Guy
Keep checking the booking times. A couple of weeks ago, the time I wanted at Danshui MacKay was labeled as full. Then suddenly there were openings available. But yes, there were only a limited number of time slots: two days a week, maybe?
When I booked they were calling it 第三, or something like that. That was certainly much easier for me to figure out.
If I’m looking at the right place, here …
https://www.mmh.org.tw/vaccine_register.php?area=tp&vaccid=XM&dose=3&agelimit=18&daysrange=25&msgid=9&title=Moderna基礎加強劑距前一劑滿28天
… there are supposedly slots for January 5, but not currently open. But again, keep checking.
EDIT: scratch that - I think I’m getting confused by the 加 here being used for the second shot (a month later? Is that how Moderna works?), not for the 3rd/booster shot. See below for what seems to be the better location.
Thanks
Has Mackay got different websites? The one I was on was completely different than that–half the text was overlayed with each other to make it difficult to read and understand. This one looks simpler, I’ll give it a try tomorrow morning at work.
Love the example of writing the Chinese date “January 1, 1989, please enter 890101 or 20000101” picking an example where the date and day are exactly the same. Couldn’t they have picked January 02, so I’d know whether to put day or month first.
I assume mine (September 1, 1987) would 870901
