Ambassador Allen LOU of the Taiwan Representative Office in the Republic of Somaliland hands over 150,000 doses of MVC COVID-19 vaccines to Somaliland Health Minister Hon. Hassan Mohamed Ali Gafadhi at Egal International Airport. This is the first time that Taiwan contributes Taiwan-made COVID-19 vaccines to the international community, as part of its commitment to assist Somaliland to combat COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan continues to provide medical masks, oxygen generators, PCRs, and antigen rapid test kits etc. to Somaliland. As Africa faces a big wave of infection of the Omicron variant, Taiwan decided to donate Somaliland 150,000 doses of Taiwan-made MVC COVID-19 vaccines and rollout expenses in December 2021.
The MVC COVID-19 vaccine is a protein subunit vaccine that contains recombinant spike protein of coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 virus) licensed by US NHI and has been authorized under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of the Ministry of Health Development of the Republic of Somaliland. MVC COVID-19 vaccines were selected for WHO COVID-19 trial vaccines and testified to lead to increase levels of neutralizing antibodies that provide protection against Omicron variant.
We all know that “the virus knows no borders and no one is safe until everyone is”. The donation of 150,000 doses of Taiwan-made COVID-19 vaccines shows not only the rock-solid brotherly relationship between Taiwan and Somaliland but also the spirit of “Health for All” and “Taiwan can Help”. Taiwan will continue to assist friendly countries and international community to fight pandemic and deepening international health cooperation.
