TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei is calling upon eligible residents to sign up for a COVID-19 shot as the restart of the vaccination registration system on Monday (Jan. 3) failed to attract interest.
The system, operated by the city’s Department of Health, is offering inoculation registration between 9 a.m. on Monday (Jan. 3) and 5 p.m. on Tuesday (Jan. 4). Individuals aged 18 and over who have received either a single jab or none can register for a Moderna or BioNTech (BNT) dose, while those who got their second dose by Aug. 10, 2021, can arrange for a booster shot.
Acknowledging that people have become less motivated to get immunized against the virus amid the reduced infection risk, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) urged everyone to be vaccinated before a new outbreak hits. As of Monday at 1 p.m., only 1,369 out of the 100,000 eligible for another jab had completed reservations, wrote CNA.
Much of the public is not feeling the urge to receive a booster, as Taiwan has not seen a large-scale local surge in infections for quite some time. The lack of interest in signing up online could also be attributed to the availability of vaccines at multiple locations, including hospitals and Taipei Main Station, said Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤).
Taiwan is on high alert amid the double-digit daily numbers of imported cases in the weeks leading up to the Lunar New Year. Meanwhile, at least two cluster infections have occurred in the capital’s quarantine hotels, with one suspected to be caused by the Delta variant and the other the even more contagious Omicron.