TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Wednesday (Oct. 27) reported that five of the seven imported breakthrough COVID-19 infections that day had been vaccinated with China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine (CoronaVac).
A breakthrough infection is defined as a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 at least 14 days after completing the full vaccine schedule. On Wednesday, Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that all eight of the imported COVID cases reported that day had received two doses of vaccine.
Lo said that seven out of the eight are categorized as breakthrough infections. The sole exception was case No. 16,498, a Taiwanese man in his 40s who had tested positive for the virus overseas prior to vaccination and therefore is not considered a breakthrough infection.
Among the seven breakthrough infections, a Taiwanese man in his 20s (case No. 16,491) and a Filipino man in his 40s (case No. 16,496) had both received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Case Nos. 16,492, 16,493, 16,494, and 16,497 are all Indonesian citizens and include three men and one woman who range in age from their 20s to their 30s. All received two doses of Sinovac.
Case No. 16,495 is a Filipino man in his 30s who had been fully vaccinated with Sinovac before working on a ship that stopped at several ports in Taiwan from Sept. 24-Oct. 25.
Wednesday's five imported Sinovac breakthrough infections follow three reported on Monday and one recorded on Tuesday, bringing the total this week to nine. This week's cases inoculated with Sinovac arrived from Indonesia (seven) and the Philippines (two).
