Has anyone reached the IDB about procuring Covid vaccines for Taiwan?

AmCham posted over 3 weeks ago that there is a process for sourcing Covid vaccines and selling them to Taiwan. Basically, when you are sure you have a vaccine supplier, you work with a Taiwan drug company or accredited importer and then apply to the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB). Then, the IDB takes it from there - so presumably, this means they inform you of their vaccine tender requirements (i.e., price) and if that still makes sense to you, you can agree on some kind of purchase order.

Has anyone made progress on this front? The AmCham post has a link to the CECC English website ā€œfor more informationā€ but I didnā€™t see anything there yet ā€“ well, itā€™s only been 3 weeks after all :wink:

Home - Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (cdc.gov.tw)

Meanwhile, the IDBā€™s own website is updated as of 17 May - it seems to be a news release website as much as anything

Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs (moeaidb.gov.tw)

Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairsā€“News (moeaidb.gov.tw)

This graphic is helpful and from the AmCham post

image

Any ideas on whether the Distribution (last step) is handled by the CECC or if the importer is expected to take care of this (and its costs)? I assume the IDB/CECC/TFDA would be the single buyer and the deal is if you have a source of vaccines then you secure a procurement order from the Taiwan government (i.e., the IDB) and deliver to them (the IDB).

Correct me if Iā€™m wrong but I donā€™t think many of us are in the vaccine import businessā€¦

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You are indeed not wrong, but I understood the gist of the AmCham message to be that you do not have to be in the vaccine import business if you are able to source vaccines ā€“ you do need to find a local partner that is organized to import health product (I know 3 ARC holders who own different SMEs that do this just off the top of my head)

Hmmm. You canā€™t access the private Vaccine Import forum here?

Importing medicines is quite another beast. Better have a legal team and medical professionals, who will help you with import regulations and permits. If you have the resources like Terry Gou, then go ahead.

I suggest to look at something less ambitious like covid-self-tests, but you will be late to the party. Local convinience chains are already selling first batches.

I got kicked out for trying to flog bear bile as a cure for the plague.

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Thereā€™s a market for that across the pond.

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Is ā€˜healthā€™ product the same as ā€˜drugsā€™, ā€˜medicineā€™?

Didnt the government here just sell their soul or make a deal with tsmc and foxcon to do this for them?

Not sure about you, but they are well above my paygrade.