This Week in Taiwan 0606-0612
June 6: The rainy season and typhoon Caiyun brought abundant rainfall to Taiwan. Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua, who heads the Central Drought Disaster Response Center, announced that the mechanism in Miaoli, Taichung, and northern Changhua where water would be supplied for five days but suspended for two days per week would be lifted immediately. The red-light water-use restriction this time lasted some 61 days, breaking the previous historical record of 54 days in Taipei in 2002. It is expected that current water conditions will be stable until the end of July.
June 10: The Good Liver Clinic in Taipei was exposed to have claimed 115 bottles of AstraZeneca vaccines on June 7 and June 8 and vaccinate more than a thousand volunteers. The Taipei City Government determined that the volunteers did not qualify for the first to third priority categories for inoculation, imposed a fine of NT$2 million (about US$72,318), and canceled the clinic's qualifications as a vaccination contract hospital. Professor Hsu Chin-tsuan, who is chairman of the Good Liver Foundation, recorded a video on June 10, apologizing for the inconvenience caused.
The list of vaccinated individuals was revealed to include various media celebrities, as well as volunteers, cleaners, and janitors totaling 1,285 people.
The matter has aroused widespread controversy. Ironically, the clinic which administered vaccines was fined, and those vaccinated had to apologize publicly, even though the real underlying reason is a shortage of vaccines.
June 10: The second phase trials of domestically produced Medigen Vaccine Biologics (MVC) vaccines was successfully unblinded. Responding to interpellation at the Legislative Yuan about the price of domestic vaccines, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung revealed that the price would be "a bit higher" than the originally budgeted unit price of NT$750 (about US$27). It is rumored that the Medigen price per dose is as high as NT$881 (about $31.8), eight time higher than that for the AstraZeneca vaccine, inviting widespread criticism. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je stated that AstraZeneca costs NT$111 (about US$4) per dose, Moderna NT$416 (about US$15), Pfizer NT$540 (about US$19.5), but Medigen vaccines cost NT$881 dose. Medigen is more expensive than all the others, but its effectiveness remains to be known.
June 10: United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Minister without Portfolio John Deng, who is also chief negotiator of the Executive Yuan's Office of Trade Negotiations, held a video conference. This is the first dialogue between the trade representatives of the two countries since the administration of President Joe Biden took office. Tai stressed the importance of U.S.-Taiwan trade and investment, and talks on the U.S.-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), which have been dormant for four years, will resume in a few weeks jointly presided by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the United States.
June 11: Dissatisfied with the government's sluggish procurement of internationally certified vaccines, former Director-General Chung Chin of the Government Information Bureau, Executive Yuan, went to the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office to file a complaint against President Tsai Ing-wen, Premier Su Tseng-chang, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung for suspected malfeasance, profiteering, and document forgery. In their complaint, Chung and co-plaintiffs criticized the three for making things difficult and obstructing individuals and private groups like Foxconn founder Terry Gou, the Buddha's Light International Association, Principal Chang Ya-chung of the Sun Yat-sen School, and New Party to act as intermediaries and facilitate large numbers of internationally certified vaccines, only to favor domestically produced Medigen vaccines.
June 11: After the Medigen vaccines successfully unblinded, the stock price surged to the upper limit. In a radio interview at noon, President Tsai stated that vaccines are expected to be available to the general public in July and emphasized that she and her family did not buy stocks, so allegations of speculation is really slander. This is the third time in 12 days that President Tsai personally responded to rumors of manipulating stock prices. She also apologized for the 385 cumulative number of deaths due to the pandemic.
President Tsai stated that over the past month, the government has made adjustments and changes to respond to the pandemic. Screening stations have been opened in higher-risk areas, and companies have also invested in rapid screening, hoping to minimize short-term infection risks.
June 11: In July 2019, national security personnel used President Tsai Ing-wen's foreign visit to smuggle 9,793 cartons of illicit cigarettes. The Taipei District Court convicted 14 individuals, including nine national security personnel, four China Airlines staff members, and one friend of Secret Service personnel, of which two former National Security Bureau majors were sentenced to more than 10 years. Observers criticized the judgment for identifying an errand boy as the mastermind.
June 12: The raising of the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic alert has been nearly a full month. As of June 12, the total number of confirmed cases reached 12,746, with 411 deaths. The death rate due to transmission is 3.2 percent, higher than that of Singapore, Japan, and the United States. Twenty-six (26) additional deaths were reported on June 12, of which six died in less than five days since they tested positive and seven were confirmed positive after they were found dead. According to experts, the senior age of patients as well as inadequate notification and medical system are main reasons for the high mortality rate and why patients are not able to receive appropriate medical care in time.