TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Premier Chen Chien-jen said on Wednesday (Jan. 3) that the pricing process for Medigen vaccines was standardized, adding that it also has confidentiality agreements as that required for Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT) vaccines.
Chen indicated that Medigen's confidentiality period of five years has not yet been reached, and negotiations with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are ongoing.
Chen stressed that since Medigen is a publicly listed company, any decisions about publicizing the government contract need shareholders' approval.
The Kuomintang (KMT) party in the legislature had requested a session on Wednesday to invite Chen to present a specialized report regarding Medigen's contract.
Though Chen was unable to disclose too much during the meeting, he reiterated during an interview with YahooTV that the government believes vaccination to be the best measure against the pandemic.
Among the companies selected for vaccine development, Medigen had positive results from phase one trials and clinical experiments, Chen pointed out.
This achievement pushed it into phase two after the results were published in globally recognized journals.
The World Health Organization (WHO), noting the lower COVID-19 case statistics in Taiwan, could not proceed with phase three trials.
Instead, the WHO conducted unity trials with four other countries, yielding acceptable results.
Chen disputed some opinions that downplayed the Medigen vaccine, including rumors about a 30-year embargo on clinical results.
He strongly denied this as fake news, arguing that all official documents have a preservation period.
In response to accusations from the KMT that more than a thousand shareholders of Medigen are members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chen called these "imaginary numerical figures."
While the DPP's presidential candidate, Lai Ching-te, publicizes his support for a contract disclosure, Chen emphasized that this could only happen after negotiations between the CDC and Medigen and respecting existing confidentiality agreements.
Chen expressed his hope to disclose the information as soon as possible to maintain public trust.