BNT162B2: The nation is hopeful of procuring Pfizer’s vaccine candidate through the COVAX alliance once its efficacy and safety study is completed, the CECC said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 11, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Taiwan is hopeful of purchasing a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE as early as the first quarter of next year through a global vaccine alliance, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.

The US pharmaceutical giant and its German partner on Monday announced that their vaccine candidate — BNT162b2 — was more than 90 percent effective in preventing the disease.

Asked if Taiwan would be able to get hold of the vaccine, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said: “We are hopeful of obtaining it, as it is on our list… but the efficacy of the vaccine would be discussed further after a final report on the study comes out.”

At a news conference in the afternoon, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said that BNT162b2 might become the first vaccine to receive emergency use authorization in many countries.