Government-funded flu vaccines running out, the CDC says

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Monday said that it is running out of government-funded flu vaccine doses, as more people have received vaccines than last year.

CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) told the Central News Agency that the government had purchased 6.29 million vaccine doses for the flu season, and that 5.14 million doses had been distributed as of Sunday.

He said that 47.1 percent of eligible recipients aged 65 or older have been vaccinated, up 15 percent from last year’s flu season, while 46.2 percent of preschool children have been vaccinated this year, up 0.5 percent from last year, Chuang said.

Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung Department of Health

He urged unvaccinated people, especially elderly people and preschool children who are at increased risk of developing serious complications from the flu, to get vaccinated.

Chuang did not say whether the government would procure more vaccines if needed.

Although the number of outpatient and emergency visits for the treatment of influenza and influenza-like illness in the past week fell slightly from a week earlier, it was still higher than the same period in 2020 and last year, he said.

Influenza A (H3N2) remained the dominant strain among influenza cases in Taiwan, Chuang said.

The CDC reported two new confirmed cases of influenza with severe complications, including a man who died within four days of the onset of symptoms.

The man was in his 70s and had not been vaccinated. He was the second flu-related death this flu season.

He had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, high blood pressure, heart disease and other chronic illnesses, Chuang said.

The other case, a boy under the age of five, was discharged from hospital on Tuesday last week after being treated with antiviral drugs.