TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced on Monday (Dec. 6) that beginning in the new year, all personnel from 24 categories of service facilities will have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or be subject to constant testing.
In consideration of the situation of the pandemic internationally, the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), the Ministry of Labor (MOL), and the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) have each come up with a list of facilities under their jurisdiction for which personnel must be fully vaccinated by Jan. 1, 2022.
The MOE list includes junior high schools, kindergartens, community colleges, cram schools, and swimming pools, while the MOEA list includes KTVs, bars, dance halls, banquets, and wedding parlors. The MHW list includes daycare centers.
CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) at Monday’s COVID-19 briefing urged all personnel at the relevant facilities to get fully vaccinated by Dec. 17, CNA reported. He added that the central government is evaluating other facilities to see if the list needs to be expanded. The central government will target facilities where the risk of cluster infection is greatest.
When asked whether the vaccine requirement for the facilities is a vaccine mandate or forced vaccinations, Chen said it is absolutely not compulsory, adding that if people do not get fully vaccinated, they can replace vaccination with testing, per CNA.