The Taipei Times ran a story on Oct. 28 headlined that more than 4 million people had received flu jabs. We could not retrieve the text of that article, so the exact cutoff date and detailed figures have not been confirmed. The details below come from earlier CDC figures and schedules reported by Focus Taiwan.

The publicly funded flu vaccination program began on Oct. 1. Focus Taiwan reported about 2.27 million doses given as of Oct. 13, up 15.7% on a year earlier, and 3,151,137 people in the 11 eligible groups vaccinated by Oct. 16, up 15.8%. COVID-19 vaccinations in the same period reached 988,347, up 39.7%.

Groups and uptake

Phase one covers health care workers, people 65 and older, pregnant women, children and people with high-risk conditions, all free of charge. As of Oct. 16, uptake stood at 55.5% for health care workers, 32.7% for those 65 and older and 31.8% for preschool children. Phase two opens on Nov. 2 for people aged 50 to 64 without high-risk chronic illness.

The CDC said it bought about 7.05 million doses this season, the first time procurement has exceeded 7 million. It plans to buy 300,000 more as a safeguard, due at local health departments in early November if all goes smoothly. Adults 18 and older who get vaccinated also receive 450 digital health tokens.

Flu activity has eased but remains at epidemic levels. In the report of Oct. 13, outpatient and emergency visits for flu-like illness in the prior week were 128,847, down 8.9%, with 144 new severe cases and 46 deaths. CDC spokesperson Lin Min-cheng urged high-risk people on Oct. 17 to get vaccinated before the holidays and election campaign events intensify.