TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Over half a million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine labeled for Taiwan arrived in the country on Thursday (Sept. 30).
The specially labeled batch of 550,000 vaccines was transported by China Airlines Flight CI-62. It took off from Frankfurt, Germany, and arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5:10 a.m. on Thursday morning, reported CNA.
After landing, the plane parked at Gate D1, where two temperature-controlled containers in the cargo hold were unloaded to complete customs clearance. After disinfection procedures were completed, the doses were sent to the loading dock for transportation to a designated cold-storage logistics center for storage and subsequent inspection and sealing operations.
China Airlines flight carrying vaccine doses arrives. (CNA photo)
The vaccine was originally slated to be delivered to schools on Oct. 5, but there were unexpected delays, leading to a shortfall of 300,000 jabs. Health Minister and Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on Wednesday (Sept. 29) confirmed that there had been delays in the delivery but pledged that when they arrived, they would be distributed around the country as soon as possible to maximize the benefits of each batch of vaccines.
In a Facebook post on Monday morning (Sept. 27), Foxconn founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), who helped arrange the batch, announced that 1.4 million doses had been produced and labeled according to Taiwan's requirements. Gou said these newly produced doses would arrive in three waves, with the first batch of 550,000 entering the country Thursday.
He said that the first batch was originally scheduled to arrive right after the Mid-Autumn Festival. However, due to Luxair flights being fully booked and a backlog of orders at the factory warehouse, the flight was delayed by a week.
Ground crew unloads temperature-controlled container. (CNA photo)
Gou said that this wave will include 1.4 million doses shipped in three batches. He did not provide a timeline for the next two shipments but said their arrival is dependent on availability through logistics networks.
In July, Foxconn’s YongLin Foundation, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), and the Tzu Chi Foundation inked an agreement with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group to purchase 15 million doses of the BioNTech vaccine. The CECC originally required the shots to omit Fosun Pharma and brand name Comirnaty from the labels, but it accepted a batch with the original labeling after the Chinese government failed to approve the BioNTech vaccine for use in China.
The first batch of 933,000 BioNTech doses containing the Fosun Pharma labels arrived on Sept. 2. The batch that arrived on Thursday will be the first to have labeling that fits Taiwan's requirements.
Customs official inspects containers. (CNA photo)
