TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Vaccination with government-funded flu vaccines started on Monday (Oct. 2) amid concerns caused by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp. (MVC) being named this year's winner of the public vaccine bid. However, vaccine experts have said that the efficacy of MVC's vaccine is comparable to other brands.
Despite MVC, also known as Kao-tuan in Chinese, being named this year's government-funded vaccine provider, rumors circulated that its vaccine was produced in subpar countries, causing concerns among parents who would rather pay out of pocket for their children to receive vaccines from other brands.
In response to the controversy, the Taiwan FactCheck Center said that the quadrivalent influenza vaccine from MVC is produced by the globally renowned South Korean pharmaceutical firm GC Biopharma, whose influenza vaccine attained World Health Organization (WHO) qualification in 2016 and is marketed in several countries. Hence, it is not a low-quality or third-rate vaccine.
The Taiwan FactCheck Center also stated that, according to experts, the initial trajectory of other domestic manufacturers also involved the importing of foreign vaccine stock solutions for local assembly, making MVC's method not unprecedented.