TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The first doses of Moderna’s second generation of COVID-19 vaccines could arrive in Taiwan in October at the earliest, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Friday (July 8).

As the United States is expected to complete its review for the new vaccine’s emergency use authorization (EUA) in late September or early October, the first batch could reach Taiwan in October, according to CECC Spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥).

He encouraged elderly people in Taiwan to receive a second booster shot, or a fourth COVID vaccine dose overall, CNA reported. The groups he mentioned were people over the age of 65, residents of care homes, and people aged 18 and above with immunodeficiency problems.

He said that from the 20 million vaccine doses ordered from Moderna, more than 9 million had already arrived in Taiwan. The CECC could decide how many of the remaining 11 million would be doses of the original vaccine or of the second generation. A batch of 450,000 Moderna vaccine doses for children up to the age of 5 arrived in Taiwan earlier in the week, with their distribution expected to start July 21.