Vaccine injury program awards NT$1.5 million payout over death of elderly woman

Taiwan’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) awarded compensation of NT$1.5 million to the family of a 90-year-old woman who died 5 minutes after being injected with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. According to the VICP review information, the elderly woman was a long-term resident of a care institution with a medical history of multiple chronic diseases, including asthma, hypertensive heart disease, and diabetes. In July, 2022, the woman was injected with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Within five minutes of injection, the

Read more

New Taipei City celebrates Mother’s Day with free COVID vaccines and gifts

The New Taipei City Department of Health is offering free gifts for women who get vaccinated for COVID from today, May 10, until the end of the month, it was announced today. The Department of Health said that all females who get vaccinated at community health clinics and vaccination stations in New Taipei City can receive special Mother’s Day gifts which include an electronic thermometer and dishwashing detergent. The number of gifts is limited and will only be available while

Read more

The Pandemic is not over! Free COVID-19 tests available nationwide

Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced today that free COVID-19 rapid screening tests will be available at pharmacies nationwide, and you don’t even have to show a health insurance card or ID to get the test kits. The CDC said that while the COVID-19 pandemic has passed its peak, there were still 195 new cases last week. and 15 deaths. CDC spokesperson Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said that the World Health Organization (WHO) and US Centers for Disease Control recommend continuous monitoring and

Read more

Taiwan’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program comes under fire: treating human life as a trifling matter

Taiwan’s Department of Health and Welfare Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) came under fire today at a press conference where it was accused of treating human life as “a trifling matter.” Legislators Chao-Tzu Chen (陳昭姿) of the Taiwan People’s Party, and Sean Liao (廖偉翔) of the Kuomintang held the press conference, pointing out that a recent judgement by the Taipei High Administrative Court showed that the VICP lacked transparency in procedures and suffered irregularities in the review process. Chao and

Read more

COVID vaccine injury payouts exceed all vaccines combined for previous 30 years: only 45% of claims processed so far

With only 45% of claims processed so far, more than NT$153 million has already been paid out to those injured by the COVID shots, more than the NT$129.6 million paid to victims of injury from all vaccines combined in the previous 30 years, it was revealed yesterday when Taiwan’s CDC responded to criticism by the opposition party legislative caucus. At a press conference yesterday, September 6, the opposition party Kuomintang (KMT) urged the government to expedite the review process for

Read more

Pilots, flight attendants decline invite to COVID after-party: human rights abuses cannot be nullified with awards

Both the Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union and the Taoyuan Pilots’ Union declined invitations from the Ministry of Health and Welfare to an event labeled as a COVID-19 contribution appreciation and awards party, citing the stigma and deprivation of human rights they suffered over the last three years as the reason for not attending. The ceremony was held yesterday evening, May 2, at the Sheraton Grand Hotel Taipei, and was hosted by President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier Chen Chien-jen. The President

Read more

Japan ends distribution of AstraZeneca COVID vaccines with the last of the shots destroyed

Japan has discarded some 13.5 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, as all of the remaining shots supplied by the British pharmaceutical company have expired, the health ministry announced on Sept. 30, according to Japan’s leading daily newspaper, The Mainichi , October 1, 2022. “Japan is officially ending the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine,” the report said, while explaining that the Japanese government had signed up to purchase 120 million doses of the product in December 2020. Only 200,000 doses

Read more

Taiwan insurance companies suffer heavy losses on COVID and vaccine policy payouts

Some of Taiwan’s largest insurance companies have applied for capital reserve funding increases and short term loans to cover losses to the tune of more than NT$80 billion as Covid-19 and COVID vaccine insurance claims continue to pour in, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday, September 6. The FSC Insurance Bureau reported that from the beginning of the year to September 5, there had been more than 1.7 million claims settled on COVID-19 insurance and more than 386,000 claims

Read more

8-year-old boy develops myocarditis after second COVID shot

An eight-year old boy was diagnosed with myocarditis two days after receiving the second dose of a COVID vaccine, and his condition may have been triggered by the vaccine, Taiwan’s Public Service Television (PTS) news reported yesterday, June 24. The second-grader in Kaohsiung City was administered the second dose of the Moderna shot on June 17, and developed a fever and chest pain on June 19. Doctors at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital diagnosed the boy as suffering from myocarditis and

Read more

Grieving migrant worker forcefully restrained after escaping from quarantine hotel

A migrant worker was sprayed with pepper spray and restrained by police and paramedics after he jumped from the third floor of a quarantine hotel in Hualien County yesterday, after receiving news that his mother had died. According to reports, the 29-year-old Indonesian national had been staying in the quarantine hotel after testing positive for COVID-19, and was due to return to work today, May 10. However, on the morning of May 9, the man received news of his mothers

Read more

China lockdown madness: elderly patient put into body bag alive, handed over for cremation

Government officials have confirmed that the staff of a Shanghai nursing home put a patient into a body bag and handed it over to undertakers for cremation, but had to take “the body” back after the undertakers saw movement, and found the man was still alive, according to Chinese news reports. Video footage of the incident circulated widely on Chinese social media yesterday, May 1. In the videos, taken from two angles, two undertakers are seen pulling a body bag

Read more