Taiwan clears AstraZeneca vaccines, shots may start next week

TAIPEI: Taiwan has completed checks on its first batch of AstraZeneca Plc COVID-19 vaccines and the first shots may start being administered from Monday, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said.

Taiwan's first vaccines - 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca shot - arrived on the island earlier this month, though they have yet to start being administered. In a video statement late on Wednesday, Chen said the doses, which came from a South Korean factory, had now cleared the last of the checks by Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration.