《TAIPEI TIMES》 People aged 20-35 can book Medigen jab

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

From 4pm yesterday, registration for Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp’s （高端疫苗） COVID-19 vaccine was opened to people aged 20 to 35 on the national online COVID-19 vaccination booking system, the Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC） said.

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Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung （陳時中）, who heads the center, said that the deadline for booking an appointment in the sixth round of vaccinations ended at 12pm yesterday, but only 605,359 people, or 69.25 percent of those eligible, had booked.

To use the doses efficiently, eligibility has been expanded to people aged 20 to 35 who registered their willingness to receive the Medigen vaccine in the online booking system before 12pm on Friday last week, Chen said.

There are about 298,000 people in the expanded eligibility group, he said.

They can book an appointment until 12pm tomorrow, Chen said, adding that those initially eligible for this round who had not booked could no longer do so.

The Medigen shots in the sixth round are to be administered from Monday next week to Sunday next week.

The Centers for Disease Control has asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 12 to 17, Chen said, adding that the review was to be completed yesterday.

Previously, only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was recommended for adolescents, so specialists would discuss how to proceed if the Moderna vaccine is also approved, Chen said.

The plan that is in place is for adolescents to primarily receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — depending on whether it arrives after school starts — he said, adding that the Moderna vaccine would become a second option if supplies warrant it.

Separately, CECC specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen （張上淳） said that a study on mixing COVID-19 vaccine brands — with participants given a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and a second from Moderna — conducted at National Taiwan University Hospital （NTUH） has been partially completed.

To determine the neutralizing antibody levels, the 400 study participants at NTUH and Taoyuan General Hospital are to have blood tests at two weeks, four weeks and three months after being vaccinated with both doses, Chang said, adding that the blood tests at the two-week marker have been completed.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES