The 2018 flu vaccination campaign has kicked off on October 15. To enhance people's willingness and awareness of receiving flu vaccination, Taiwan CDC once again held a press conference with PX Mart. Taiwan CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), PX Mart COO Tsai Tu-chang (蔡篤昌), celebrity Miss Yang Chien-pei (楊千霈) and her daughter and mother-in-law attended the press conference and jointly encouraged eligible citizens to receive free flu shots to protect the health of themselves and their family.

Taiwan CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) pointed out that influenza vaccination offers healthy adults 70%-90% protection against the flu. It can also reduce 50%-60% of complications and 80% of mortality rate caused by influenza in the elderly. To ensure people’s health, this year Taiwan CDC will be providing 6 million doses of free vaccine, and 4,000 contracted clinics will be available across the nation. Taiwan CDC is also grateful to PX Mart, who set up 165 vaccination stations at its stores, making it more convenient for people to get vaccinated. This is a great model of public-private partnership, and it is hoped that more companies will support this policy and join the cause of providing free flu shots, preventing diseases, and offering better resources to the society.

Tsai Tu-chang, the COO of PX Mart said that PX Mart has always been serving the public; therefore, its President Lin Min-hsiung (林敏雄) highly supports setting up vaccination stations. This year, PX Mart not only increased the number of vaccination stations but also offers a bottle of water and 3 kiwis to the first 100 people who receive flu shots every day. In addition, PX Mart has been advertising the free vaccination campaign through its marketing channels and has also been encouraging its employees to get flu shots.

Miss Yang Chien-pei’s mother-in-law also received vaccination at the press conference. Yang said that she always pays attention to health conditions of the elderly in her family, so she called for everyone to remind the elderly to get vaccinated or, even better, accompany them to get flu shots. Though her daughter was not able to get vaccinated on that day after being evaluated by a doctor, Yang said that she will definitely bring her to the clinic for vaccination afterward. Taiwan CDC would like to remind parents that children above 6 months and below 9 years old should receive their second dose of vaccine 4 weeks after the first dose, so as to gain comprehensive protection.

Taiwan CDC stressed that an annual seasonal flu vaccine is the best way to prevent influenza. Eligible citizens are recommended to receive vaccination as soon as possible to lower the risk of infection. For more information on flu vaccination, please sign up for Taiwan CDC’s LINE chatbot at https://goo.gl/BUFT1r and get answers to your questions instantly. You can also refer to Taiwan CDC's website at http:/ /www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline, 1922 (or 0800-001922). For locations of PX Mart’s vaccination stations, please visit PX Mart’s website at http://www.pxmart.com.tw/px/index.px.