TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Japan will be sending a third batch of over 1 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Taiwan on Thursday (July 15).
At a press briefing Tuesday morning (July 13), Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu announced that based on requests and after research and discussion, his country will provide an additional 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Taiwan, reported the Liberty Times. This third wave will be delivered to Taiwan via JAL Flight JL809 and is set to arrive at 2:40 p.m. on Thursday.
The Japanese government has decided to provide an additional 1 million doses each to Indonesia and Vietnam.
Previously, Japan shipped 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Taiwan on June 4 and 1.13 million doses on July 8.
In addition, over 1 million doses that Taiwan has purchased overseas are set to arrive in the country at some point after July 25. Thus, by the end of July, Taiwan will have received over 2 million additional doses of AstraZeneca, enabling the CECC to expand vaccination to younger age groups.
In response to the latest donation, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) posted a tweet at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday morning expressing its appreciation to Japan, which it described as a "real friend." The ministry added that the doses will help save lives and keep Taiwan's "COVID19 fightback firmly on the fast track."
More greatly appreciated support for #Taiwan from #RealFriend #Japan! Our sincere thanks to @moteging of @MofaJapan_jp for announcing a 3rd donation of vaccine doses. The 1 million shots will help save lives & keep the country's #COVID19 fightback firmly on the fast track. pic.twitter.com/FLT4Ry803R
— 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) 〔錯誤字元無法儲存〕〔錯誤字元無法儲存〕 (@MOFA_Taiwan) July 13, 2021
