2024/3/5 17:29 (updated at 3/5 17:48)
Li Jialin (pictured), deputy director of the Epidemic Center of the Department of Disease Control and Prevention of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said on the 5th that the number of outpatient and emergency influenza-related visits from February 25 to March 2 was 102,000, the highest in the same period in six years, and the epidemic is still at a plateau. .Photographed by Central News Agency reporter Zeng Yining on March 5, 113
(Central News Agency reporter Zeng Yining, Taipei, 5th) Publicly funded influenza vaccines will be available to all people from today until the remaining 66,000 doses are used up. For the procurement of influenza vaccines this fall and winter, CDC spokesperson Luo Yijun said that taking into account the aging population and declining birthrate, it is estimated that there will be an increase of 50,000 doses compared to last year, to approximately 6.437 million doses.
Starting today, influenza vaccination will be expanded to people across the country who have not been vaccinated for more than 6 months until the vaccine is used up.
Luo Yijun, spokesman for the Department of Disease Control and Prevention of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said at the epidemic press conference that there are currently about 66,000 doses of publicly funded influenza vaccines left in the country. People across the country who have not been vaccinated for more than 6 months are asked to go to contract hospitals for vaccination as soon as possible to reduce the risk of infection. Risk of severe illness or death.
Due to the rapid mutation of influenza viruses, virus strains must be updated every year. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced the recommended composition of 4-valent influenza vaccine strains for the northern hemisphere for the 2024-2025 influenza season. Among them, the vaccine strain of type A H3N2 will be updated to the Thai strain, and the remaining 3 vaccine strains are the same as the 2023-2024 flu season.
Luo Yijun pointed out that the procurement of 4-price influenza vaccine for this autumn and winter has been started in accordance with the vaccine composition recommended by the World Health Organization. In February, five domestic manufacturers with drug licenses were consulted, and they were all willing to participate in vaccine procurement, and the procurement administrative procedures will be started.
As for the scheduled purchase volume, Luo Yijun explained that last year, the central government purchased a total of 6.387 million doses of influenza vaccines at public expense, and purchased an additional 200,000 doses for local governments and the Ministry of National Defense with open contracts; next autumn and winter, the aging population and declining birthrate will be taken into consideration. It is calculated that an additional 50,000 doses will be purchased. In addition, if the demand for vaccination increases by then, the purchase volume will be supplemented through open contracts.
The CDC originally predicted that there would be another wave of respiratory epidemic peaks from the end of February to the beginning of March. Luo Yijun said that last week, the number of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) and influenza-like illness doctor visits both dropped, reaching the peak of the epidemic earlier than originally expected. Among them, the highest number of influenza-like illness doctor visits was 114,000 in the 8th week, and COVID-19 19. The peak number of medical visits was reached on February 19, with approximately 12,000 visits per day, which was slightly slower than expected.
Luo Yijun said that the current respiratory epidemic has passed its peak, but it is still at a plateau and is expected to slow down after mid-March.
The Department of Disease Control and Prevention stated that the number of outpatient and emergency influenza-related visits from February 25 to March 2 was 102,000, the highest in the same period in six years; multiple monitoring systems show that influenza viruses, COVID-19 viruses, adenoviruses, etc. have recently Several respiratory pathogens continue to be active in the community, among which influenza viruses are mainly type A H3N2.
In addition, the number of cluster notifications of upper respiratory tract infections has increased in the past two weeks, and most of them are campus clusters, mainly caused by influenza viruses. Since the beginning of the school year, there have been a total of 45 campus influenza clusters, three times the number in the same period last year. It is necessary to prevent the epidemic on campus spread in. (Editor: Guan Zhongwei) 1130305
Central News Agency “First-hand News” app
The text, pictures and videos on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast or publicly transmitted and used without authorization.
