TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp. (MVC) announced on Thursday (Oct. 14) that it had applied to the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Eswatini for emergency use authorization (EUA) of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine, Ettoday reported.

Eswatini, a landlocked country in South Africa, is Taiwan’s only ally in Africa. The two countries signed a bilateral agreement on medical cooperation in 2007, and since 2009 Taipei Medical University has been carrying out medical exchange activities for Taiwan.

The report added that medical exchanges have been one of the cornerstones supporting ties between the two countries. Eswatini congratulated Taiwan on its successful development of the Medigen COVID-19 vaccine and said it was an important milestone in fighting the disease on Twitter on Oct. 10, Taiwan’s National Day.

As of Tuesday (Oct. 12), Eswatini, with an population of 1.2 million, has had a total of 46,300 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 1,230 deaths, the report said. King Mswati III, the country’s leader, and his seven wives contracted the disease in January this year, and Taipei Medical University dispatched a team of five medical personnel to treat them.

Later, Mswati III thanked Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) for the antiviral drugs that improved his condition. The application for an EUA in Eswatini comes after the company’s application for an EUA in South America's Paraguay, the report said.

MVC said that it is conducting a Phrase III clinical trial in Paraguay, which involves 1,000 people, and will obtain data for interim analysis by the end of this year, per Ettoday.