Taiwan launched its first indigenously made Covid vaccine

Taipei City: On Monday, Taiwan launched its first indigenously developed Covid vaccine. The vaccine was developed by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health in the United States. The first dose of the vaccine was received by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing- wen.

The Health Ministry in Taiwan has granted emergency use of the vaccine last month. The government has ordered 5 million doses of the vaccine. But the health experts and medical fraternity had criticized the government’s move by saying that the vaccine was given emergency approval hastily as it has not completed the clinical trials and no efficacy data is available.

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Citing a study, the government claimed that the antibodies created by the indigenously made vaccine are ‘no worse than’ those created by AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

Meanwhile, no locally transmitted cases were reported in China for the first time since July 16.