Taiwan CDC to add nearly 500,000 flu and COVID-19 vaccine doses

Taiwan's CDC will procure roughly 500,000 more vaccine doses, split between 300,000 flu shots and 174,000 doses of Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine, pending smooth procurement. The extra stock is slated for delivery to regional health offices in early November. Publicly funded vaccinations, launched on Oct. 1, have already seen 2.27 million flu and 781,000 COVID-19 doses administered, marking increases of 15.7% and 45.5% respectively over the previous year.

The rise is partly driven by a new incentive scheme that awards digital health tokens—450 for flu shots and 900 for COVID-19 shots—to eligible adults. Taiwan has previously secured about 7.05 million flu doses for the 2026-27 season and 2.4 million COVID-19 doses, including 2.2 million from Moderna and 200,000 from Novavax. Despite a recent dip in flu activity, cases remain at epidemic levels, with 144 severe flu cases and 46 deaths reported last week, while COVID-19 visits fell 35.2% and recorded 21 severe cases and 15 deaths.