Reuters — Thursday 18 February 2021
A deal for Taiwan to buy 5 million doses of the BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is on hold after BioNTech pulled the plug in December when Taiwan was on the verge of announcing the deal, Taiwan’s Health Minister Chen Shih-chung revealed. Chen cited potential Chinese pressure for the delay and said he had been worried about “outside forces intervening.” “Certain people don’t want Taiwan to be too happy,” he added. BioNTech signed a deal with Chinese firm Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical to exclusively distribute the BioNTech vaccine in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Taiwan had announced in December it agreed to buy almost 20 million total vaccine doses, including 10 million from AstraZeneca and doses through COVAX.