Taiwan suspects pressure from China blocked vaccine deal

The attempts of Taiwan to purchase 5 million doses of BioNTech SE’s Covid-19 vaccine unravelled at the last minute, Taiwan’s health minister said on 17 February, voicing concern that political pressure from China might have led to the cancellation of the deal.

Taiwan’s government was making final preparations to sign a deal with Germany-based BioNTech in January but then “things changed”, minister Chen Shih-chung said in an interview on radio station Hit FM today.

Interference by “external forces” upset arrangements, Chen said. “There are some people that don’t want Taiwan to be too happy.”

BioNTech’s regional distributor, China-based Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter. Shanghai Fosun secured rights in March to develop and market the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech vaccine across mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Taiwan has been one of the standout successes in combating the spread of the coronavirus, registering nine deaths and fewer than 1,000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. But securing vaccines for its 23.5 million people has proved to be more challenging.

The deal’s collapse is a significant setback for all the inoculation efforts of Taiwan. The concerns of interference by Beijing are likely to further affect its relations with China. China’s government claims Taiwan as its territory, despite having never ruled it. Under leader Xi Jinping, China is increasing its military and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan, while threatening to invade.

Dealing with a Chinese company to access the vaccine had been a source of anxiety for the Government of Taiwan, Chen said. “At the time we were worried there would be political pressure,” he said.

The Government of Taiwan is still talking with BioNTech, Presidential Office spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka. Taiwan has not started offering vaccines to the public yet, but Chen said efforts to procure them from overseas continue, with the first vaccinations likely to begin in the middle of the year.

The Taiwanese government plans to purchase 20 million doses, approximately 5 million of which will likely be provided by the Covax program, co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the World Health Organization.

Beijing has blocked Taiwan’s participation as an observer in the WHO’s World Health Assembly for the past several years, since President Tsai Ing-wen came into office.

Speaking during a commercial break on the radio broadcast, Chen said of the failure to secure the German vaccines: “It’s just like our participate in the WHA,” YouTube video of the interview.

“This should not surprise anyone, but we are prepared,” spokeswoman Kolas said via text message Wednesday. “Our policy has not changed – we are developing our own high-quality vaccine and at the same time securing short-term access by purchasing from other companies.”