TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) pledged to obtain international recognition for Taiwan’s Medigen vaccine after it was reported Japan had still excluded it from its list of approved vaccinations.
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said on Sept. 23 that his country would resume individual travel and visa-free entry beginning Oct. 11. “COVID-19, of course, interrupted all of these benefits, but from October 11, Japan will relax border control measures to be on par with the U.S., as well as resume visa-free travel and individual travel,” Al Jazeera quoted Kishida as saying.
Su said that vaccines are strategic resources, and Taiwan is one of the few countries in the world that can make its own, per CNA. We must support our domestically-produced jabs and their international recognition through scientific trials, he added.
Su mentioned that he himself was inoculated with the Medigen vaccine.
Taiwan has slowly begun to open travel back to pre-pandemic levels following the government’s announcement of the restoration of visa-free entry to all reciprocating countries on Sept. 29 and the end of quarantine on Oct. 13. Under the new "0 + 7" system, which will be implemented on Oct. 13, incoming travelers only have to undergo seven days of self-health management.