On September 25, 2012, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced it would launch its annual free seasonal influenza vaccination campaign on October 1, 2012. The campaign will stop after all the doses have been used.  This year, a total of 2.97 million and 5 thousand doses of vaccine have been purchased for the campaign.  Like the previous year, the government-funded vaccine is not made available to everyone.  In addition, for the first time, the fifth and sixth graders are included in the target groups to receive the vaccine this year. The target groups to receive the government-funded vaccine include elderly people aged 65 and older, people with major illness/injury, people with rare disease, residents and personnel at nursing institutes, children aged 6 moths through 6 years, elementary school students from grade 1 through 6, health care and public health personnel, poultry farmers and animal health inspectors. Further, Taiwan CDC has planned to make government-funded influenza vaccines available to secondary targeted groups for the vaccine, including people aged 50-64 with type 2 diabetes, chronic liver infection or liver cirrhosis, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic pulmonary diseases in January, 2013 based on the vaccine usage.

To facilitate vaccination, the target groups are urged to get the vaccine as soon as possible at local health centers or any of the 3,000 contracted hospitals offering the government-funded vaccine beginning October 1, 2012.  On-campus seasonal influenza vaccination organized by the health authority and schools will be held at elementary schools to facilitate elementary students in getting the vaccine beginning October 15.  To further facilitate access to the seasonal influenza vaccine, community influenza vaccination clinics will be offered irregularly. 

According to the Taiwan CDC’s statistics, influenza virus has been circulating in the community.  Since people of any age are susceptible to influenza infection, Taiwan CDC advises people who are not at high risk of developing influenza but wish to receive the vaccine at their own expenses.

 
Taiwan CDC cautions that it takes approximately one month after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against influenza virus infection.  Therefore, it is advised that all individuals regardless of their risk to receive seasonal influenza vaccine every year to protect themselves from the threat of the influenza virus, preferably before the influenza peak season at the end of November.  Nevertheless, a person who has had a severe reaction to any vaccine, is allergic to any component of the vaccine, is under six months of age, has an anaphylactic allergy to eggs, or has been deemed medically unfit for vaccination by a physician is advised against vaccination.  On the other hand, a person who is unwell (e.g. having an acute illness such as fever) on the day of vaccination should postpone the vaccination. Besides presenting National Health Insurance card and ID card (child health handbook is required of pre-school children), people wishing to receive the vaccine also have to cover registration and diagnostic fees to receive the vaccine. For any questions or further information on influenza vaccination, please visit the local health bureau’s website or the Taiwan CDC’s website: http://www.cdc.gov.tw/ or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline, 1922.