TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — International students in Taiwan have yet to be included in the country’s mass inoculation against COVID-19, which starts on Tuesday (June 15).

Deputy Chief Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Tuesday that foreign students studying in Taiwan are not eligible for the rollout of COVID vaccines, due to the limited availability of doses. He made the remark in response to calls by local governments to include the community in the country’s immunization program.

Taiwan is picking up speed in the race to protect its citizens by administering the 1.24 million AstraZeneca (AZ) doses donated by Japan to the country’s elderly population. The first in the queue are those aged 85 and above.

The seven priority groups listed by the CECC to receive jabs include medical staff, disease prevention workers, high-risk frontline workers, individuals embarking on necessary overseas trips, residents and workers at social welfare institutions, people aged 75 and above, as well as individuals engaged in work related to national security or at facilities that keep society running.

As of June 11, 799,129 doses had been administered in Taiwan, which has a population of 23.6 million, according to a COVID-19 Dashboard developed by the National Center for High-Performance Computing.