Taiwan is investigating a local feature of Covid-19 to speed up its inoculation program, as the island and many countries are struggling to get vaccine delivery from major pharmaceutical companies.
The locally produced Covid vaccine from Medigen Vaccine Biologics was launched last week and President Tsai Ing-wen received the first two-dose vaccine last Monday.
The Medigen vaccine was developed in collaboration with the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The vaccine, like that of Novavax, is based on a technology called recombinant protein, which uses a portion of the coronavirus protein to induce an immune response.
Last week, some 600,000 people in Taiwan were inoculated with the Medigen vaccine, the company’s chief executive, Charles Chen, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
Some critics have questioned the approval of the Medigen vaccine. Health authorities dropped the vaccine for emergency use in July after completing only phase two clinical trials in Taiwan with no efficacy data available.
Chen told CNBC that it was not possible to conduct a “traditional efficacy trial” because Taiwan’s infection rate is “very low.” This trial usually involves a comparison between a vaccinated group and a control group that does not receive it, he explained.
Instead, Medigen used a method called “immunobridging” to infer the level of vaccine protection based on immune responses in process participants.
“We’ll say our protection will be … the same or even better than AstraZeneca,” Chen said.
Medigen said in July that it had received approval to conduct a phase three clinical trial for its Covid vaccine in Paraguay.
Covide vaccine deliveries
Taiwan’s inoculation program began slowly, as, like many world governments, it faced challenges in securing Covid vaccine deliveries.
The island, with a population of approximately 24 million, has received more than 10 million doses of Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines, according to public data compiled by Unicef. This includes nearly 6 million doses given by the US and Japan, according to the data.
About 42% of Taiwan’s population has received at least one vaccine from the Covid vaccine, of which less than 4% have been completely vaccinated, according to statistics compiled by the Our World in Data online repository.
Although Taiwan reported very few Covid infections last year, cases on the island jumped in May. However, Taiwan’s total cumulative cases remain relatively low. The number of daily cases reported on the island has fallen since then, unlike many of its Asian neighbors who still have trouble raising infections.
The island has reported 15,995 confirmed cases and 835 deaths since the start of last year, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control reported on Tuesday.