Taiwan Says Deal To Buy 5 Million Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccines On Hold, Hints At Pressure From China

Topline

Taiwan’s plan to buy 5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine from German drugmaker BioNTech is on hold, the island’s health minister announced on Wednesday, hinting at potential pressure from the Chinese government adding to tensions between China and Taiwan which have escalated during the pandemic.

Key Facts

Key Background

Tensions between China and Taiwan—which the former claims as part of its own territory—have ratcheted up during the past year amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Taiwan has alleged that China’s lack of transparency aggravated the pandemic around the world while China has insisted that only it can speak for the island at international forums like the WHO. In December BioNTech, which co-developed an mRNA vaccine with U.S. based Pfizer, signed a deal with China’s Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical. As part of the deal, the two will exclusively develop and sell Covid-19 vaccines based on BioNTech’s mRNA technology in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Both companies plan to supply 100 million doses of their vaccine as part of the deal.

Big Number

938. That’s the total number of Covid-19 cases Taiwan has reported since the start of the pandemic, including just 9 deaths. Most cases in the country have been imported cases, which have been quickly detected and isolated, effectively stamping out the disease from the island.

Further Reading

COVID vaccine deal with Taiwan falls through after Chinese pressure: Health minister (Taiwan News)

Taiwan says BioNTech vaccine deal on hold, cites potential Chinese pressure (Reuters)

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