TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Tuesday (Nov. 16) announced that people who have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID vaccine can choose an mRNA vaccine for their second dose in the country's upcoming 15th round of vaccinations.

CECC Spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) that afternoon announced that people whose first vaccine dose was AZ can receive a second dose of AZ or opt for a dose of the mRNA COVID vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT) or Moderna. Chuang said that there are nearly 1 million recipients of the first dose of AZ who will be eligible to be inoculated with an mRNA vaccine.

As for the latest inoculation statistics, Chuang said that 215,052 vaccine doses were administered on Monday (Nov. 15). Taiwan's first-dose vaccination rate has risen to 76.42%, while 42.86% are now fully vaccinated.

Chuang said that before the end of this month, people who have had the first dose of AZ vaccine will be able to select from the AZ, BNT, or Moderna jabs for their second shot. When asked if the next round of vaccinations will allow for the mixing of different brands, he confirmed that 970,000 recipients of the first dose of AZ will be able to select BNT or Moderna in the 15th round.

In addition, a member of the media asked about an update on the status of a female middle school student who had developed myocarditis after being vaccinated with BNT.

Chuang said that she is still hospitalized though no longer requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. However, her family did not want to disclose additional details about her medical condition.