Free flu and COVID-19 vaccines start tomorrow

JAB INCENTIVE: With the launch of the government’s ‘health token’ program tomorrow, people 18 and older who get a flu shot can earn the tokens, the CDC said

• By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

• • Add TT as Preferred Source

  • 

  • 

  • 

The first phase of government-funded seasonal influenza and COVID-19 vaccination begins tomorrow, amid heightened flu activity, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.

There were 138,654 outpatient and emergency medical visits for flu-like illnesses last week, about 3.2 percent fewer than the previous week, but that number might be affected by many clinics being closed over the long holiday weekend, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said.

As 12.2 percent of those visits were to emergency rooms, the seasonal flu is still considered to be in its epidemic period, she said.

Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Lin Min-cheng speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: CNA

Thirty flu-related deaths and 87 severe flu cases were confirmed last week, Lee said, adding that it was the most weekly flu-related deaths since October last year.

Flu activity is also rising in China, South Korea, Japan and Singapore, as well as in the US, she said.

The centers estimated that weekly medical visits would vary slightly this week and in the coming weeks, due to long weekends, but would remain high as people gather on holidays, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Min-cheng (林明誠) said.

The number of weekly medical visits might begin to drop from the middle of next month, but whether the weekly number would reach a peak of 150,000 to 160,000 as previously predicted is not certain, he added.

Meanwhile, 10,502 medical visits for COVID-19 were reported last week, Lee said.

Weekly numbers for the disease have been gradually falling in the past few weeks, but it is still at epidemic levels, she said, adding that there were 33 severe cases and 14 deaths confirmed last week.

Eligible recipients should get the flu and COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible, as vaccination remains the most effective way to protect against the diseases, Lin said.

The enhanced flu vaccine first introduced to the program this year provides stronger protection, and the updated COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna uses a lower dose while providing greater protection, he said.

Eligible groups in the first phase for both vaccines include people aged 65 and older, medical and disease-prevention workers, indigenous people aged 55 to 64, nursing home residents and workers, pregnant women, caregivers of children younger than six months, and employees at preschools, childcare centers and at-home childcare providers.

They also include people with high-risk, chronic, rare or catastrophic illnesses, while flu-vaccine eligibility additionally includes students at elementary schools, junior and senior-high schools, vocational schools and the first to third years of five-year junior colleges, or people working with poultry or livestock, and animal epidemic prevention workers.

Children aged six months to preschool age are also eligible for the free flu vaccine, while the eligibility for the free COVID-19 vaccine has been revised to children aged six months to younger than six years who have never received a COVID-19 vaccine.

The second phase is to begin on Nov. 2, when the eligibility of the vaccines would be expanded to include people aged 50 to 64, the CDC said.

In addition, the government’s “health token” program launches tomorrow, meaning that people aged 18 and older who receive an eligible vaccine, either government-funded or paid for out of pocket, can earn health tokens, Lin said.

They can earn 450 health tokens for a flu vaccine, 900 for a COVID-19 vaccine and 600 for a pneumococcus vaccine, he said.

The tokens can be exchanged for health-related products and services starting from Dec. 1, he added.