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Taiwan’s 3rd Moderna vaccine shipment cleared for use

Nation has purchased total of 5.05 million shots from Moderna

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Moderna vaccine

Moderna vaccine (CNA photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Nearly 410,000 doses of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine purchased directly from the company were on Wednesday (July 7) cleared by Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for distribution.

This latest shipment, which arrived on June 30, is the third batch from Moderna to land in Taiwan, according to CNA. The doses are good until Jan. 6, 2022, the FDA said.

The FDA carried out inspections and tests using a sample of 600 doses from the total 409,800 doses. The shots are now set to be distributed by health officials.

Taiwan has purchased 5.05 million doses of the Moderna vaccine directly from the American company. On May 28, the first shipment of 150,000 doses arrived in Taiwan, followed by another 240,000 on June 18.

The country has signed agreements to buy around 20 million total doses from Moderna (5.05 million), AstraZeneca (10 million), and unspecified brands from COVAX (4.76 million), in addition to signing contracts for 10 million jabs from two domestic companies.

Taiwan has also received donations of 2.5 million Moderna doses from the U.S. and 1,24 AstraZeneca (AZ) shots from Japan. A second donation of 1.13 million AZ shots is also expected to arrive from Japan on Thursday (July 8).

According to government data, 2,740,540 people have received at least one shot, while only 49,474 were fully vaccinated as of Tuesday (July 6).