Taiwan health ministry to get $2.9 billion boost to fight COVID-19

Taiwan’s health ministry will receive an extra $2.9 billion to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including buying vaccines on Thursday.

Taiwan’s Cabinet said the money for the health ministry would go toward buying and testing vaccines, medicines and to help improve monitoring and testing for the virus.

Taiwan has millions of vaccines on order, but has so far only vaccinated about 3% of its 23.5 million people, mostly with just the first shot.

“This wave of the pandemic came quickly and urgently, affecting many families and industries,” Premier Su Tseng-chang said.

Infections have been heavily concentrated in Taipei and its nearby cities, and although the numbers have not exploded they are also not falling dramatically.

Taiwan has reported 9,389 infections since the pandemic began, including 149 deaths.

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Kamila/Reuters