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 āfor more informationā but I didnāt see anything there yet ā well, itās only been 3 weeks after all
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).
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)
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.