COVID-19: Private vaccine imports need approvalSIX APPLICATIONS: Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said the FDA received four applications and the CDC two, but none had the proper paperworkBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that six applications had been received from groups hoping to purchase and import COVID-19 vaccines. The center previously announced that Taiwan signed contracts to purchase about 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines: 10 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, 4.76 million doses from the global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX and 5.05 million doses of the Moderna vaccine. Late on Sunday evening, the center said that on Friday last week, it signed contracts with local vaccine makers Medigen Vaccine Biologics and United Biomedical for the advance purchase of 5 million doses from each. On Friday last week, the center announced the documentation that local governments and businesses need to apply for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to import COVID-19 vaccines. “They would still need to apply for emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA, so the vaccine sources must meet the FDA’s requirements and the technical documents would need to be reviewed,” Chen said.

Source: Taipei Times May 31, 2021 15:56 UTC