當俗稱武漢肺炎的2019年冠狀病毒疾病(COVID-19)從亞洲、歐洲傳播至美國之際,國際公共衛生專家曾經擔憂疫情可能在非洲帶來大災難,尤其對當地人口擁擠的大城市,以及醫療部門缺乏資金和檢測設施來說。時代雜誌日前引述聯合國非洲經濟委員會(U.N. Economic Commission for Africa)的資料報導,該委員會曾經在去年4月預估,非洲去年因COVID-19出現的死亡人數將上看30萬人,如果疫情在非洲未獲得控制的話。
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) is considering offering leftover COVID-19 vaccines to people over the age of 30 via an online reservation system.
Vaccine vials often contain enough material for 10 people to receive one dose each, but if anyone does not show up for their appointment, the container is discarded and the remaining doses are wasted. To solve this problem and to more quickly give access to younger unprioritized age groups, South Korea has recently launched a real-time online booking system for leftover vaccines for people over the of 30.
The system enables users to monitor the availability of jabs via popular apps and receive real-time notifications if there is a no-show. Users can search maps in Naver or KakaoTalk to find the closest clinic with remaining doses, or they can make reservations with up to five hospitals ahead of time to receive alerts on their phones when openings become available, reported The Korea Herald.
However, the competition for these openings is fierce, with slots for leftover jabs being snapped up "in the blink of an eye."
When asked whether Taiwan would consider a similar option for people under the age of 30, Health Minister and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said he would "lean towards opening up" the use of leftover vaccines. However, he said he would need to first broach the proposal with cities and counties represented at a national epidemic prevention conference slated for Friday (June 25).