Vaccine Procurement Controversy：Terry Gou Denounces Officials as Rotten Wood and Brute Beasts
Taiwan Weekly Comprehensive Report
Terry Gou, the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Company (Foxconn), has been in the spotlight recently for crossing sords with Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan over the government’s role in the delayed procurement of BioNTech vaccines. Minister Hsueh implied Gou was “behaving like a BioNTech salesman,” and Gou replied by blasting the government as filled with officials who are rotten wood, birds and beasts and asking the government to feel the pain of the people and listen closely to the public opinion. Premier Su Tseng-cheng later apologized for Hsueh’s “salesman” comment. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) also announced that the next-generation BioNTech vaccines, if necessary, will be included in the procurement next year.
Mr. Gou posted on Facebook on December 19 and 20 the difficult process of his BioNTech vaccines purchase. He stressed that people’s lives should always come first, but it seems like the incumbent administration doesn’t think so. According to Gou, when he saw Spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang of the CECC claim that there were plenty of BioNTech vaccines in Taiwan, he felt puzzled because he had just asked and heard Superintendent Chiou Jeng-fong of the Taipei Medical University Hospital say that elderly people like Gou’s mother should have next-generation vaccines, but Taiwan doesn’t have them.”
Mr. Gou stated that his 97-year-old mother has received three doses of BioNTech coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines yet is still waiting hopelessly for the next-generation vaccine. He is worried that it is too risky to mix different vaccines and believes the government should import the next-generation vaccines as soon as possible.
During interpellation at the Legislative Yuan on December 21 related to this use, Minister Hsueh retaliated: “Did Terry Gou say that? He sounds like a salesman for BioNTech vaccines.” On Gou’s “insistence,” Hsueh stated that he has received four doses of the Medigen vaccine. Hsueh stated whether he should ask Medigen to reopen its production line so that he can take the fifth shot?
After a few hours Mr. Gou posted on Facebook that it is regrettable how the government is filled with officials who are dead wood and brute beasts. Gou suggests that the government should feel the pain of the people and listen closely to the public opinion.
Mayor Ko Wen-je of Taipei stated that he had to look it up on the Internet and found that Gou’s comments come from the classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Later he also discovered that Gou didn’t use the harsher words from the original. According to Ko, “Gou really can choose some sharp words.” On Minister Hsueh’s BioNTech salesman comment on Gou, Mayor Ko opined that it is like the salesman for MVC vaccines himself accusing others being salesman for BioNTech.”
Gou’s office issued the following three-point statement in the afternoon:
- It is a fact that Taiwan currently does not have BioNTech bivalent next-generation coronavirus vaccine. The people were given a choice between different vaccines before; similarly, choices should also be available to the people for different needs. One of the purposes of government is to look after the needs of the relative minority. Otherwise, everything can just be decided by the law of supply and demand in economics, not to mention the people who chose BioNTech is definitely not the minority.
- Mixing different coronavirus vaccines due to shortage of vaccines is a measure of last resort. Since the global supply of the COVID-19 vaccine is at normal level, any responsible government should purchase sufficient vaccines via multiple channels and give people the right to choose. Our people will be left to wonder why the government always places a single bet and wants to dominate everything and give people no choice.
- Does the administration still remember BioNTech vaccines for children? In the beginning the government only allowed children ages six (6) through 11 to receive half a dose of the Moderna vaccine. Later due to public grievance and parent concerns, the government started to import BioNTech vaccines for children. Applying the logic of Minister Hsueh, many parents of Taiwan are also behaving like salesmen for BioNTech.
Spokesman Chuang of the CECC stated that Taiwan still had over a million doses of vaccine for adults, children and infants. Although they are monovalent yet still can be used as vaccine boosters.
In a Facebook post on December 21, critical care physician Su Yi-feng stated that nearly all the BioNTech vaccines in Taiwan are first-generation ones. These vaccines are outdated and cannot protect us from the Omicron variant.
Hsueh and Chaung held a press conference in the evening of December 21 saying BioNTech and Fosun Pharma of Shanghai used to lobby the CECC to buy more vaccines and the argument that they used was to “give the people more choices.” Now Gou used the same argument to ask the government to buy more vaccines from BioNTech. They were surprised that “it came from Gou’s mouth directly”.
In light of the vaccine procurement controversy, the exclusive agent of BioNTech vaccines in the Greater China area Fosun Pharma issued a statement in the evening of December 21 saying that “it is willing to replace the remaining order to bivalent next-generation vaccines”. The CECC stated that it contacted Fosun on October 7 to enquire if the remaining order of 1.1 million doses of BioNTech vaccines for children could be changed to next-generation ones but received a negative answer. The CECC expressed appreciation for this policy change. The CECC stated that there are 4 million doses of next-generation vaccines available in Taiwan right now and an order of 15 million more doses has been placed. Based on the daily vaccination rate of 20,000 to 30,000 doses, the vaccine stock is enough. If necessary, next-generation BioNTech vaccines will be included in the procurement next year.
In an interview by the press before attending the 22nd Golden Quality Award for civil servants, Premier Su Tseng-chang stated that both Gou and Hsueh are right and wrong in this recent episode. Gou is earnest and proactive and has a preference for BioNTech. He spent a lot of money together with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation to buy a large quantity of vaccines for our people when our country needed them the most. The government is grateful for him. Hsueh cannot equate Gou with salesman. “I have to apologize on behalf of a political appointee for making such a comment,” Premier Su said.