Hon Hai, TSMC 'signing contracts' to buy COVID-19 vaccines

According to [Focus Taiwan CNA], Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., globally known as Foxconn, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) said Sunday in separate statements that they were in the process of signing contracts to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for Taiwan.

In its statement, TSMC said that the contract involved "many parties", and a formal announcement would be made when the process is complete.

The two tech firms were authorized by Taiwan's government in late June to purchase up to 10 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The statements on Sunday came after a story was posted on social media earlier in the day, saying that the two tech firms had signed a vaccine procurement deal on July 9 with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co., the distributor of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the areas of China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

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The story, which was picked up widely by Taiwan media, was attributed to the Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency but did not appear on its website.

At a Central Epidemic Command Center (國家衛生指揮中心中央流行疫情指揮中心, CECC) press briefing on Sunday, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said "too much speculation will not help the signing process" for the procurement of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.

According to Taiwan's government, it was close to securing 5 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses from BNT earlier this year, but the deal fell through due to interference from China.

Taiwan has signed contracts to purchase about 20 million vaccine doses from abroad, including 5.05 million doses of Moderna, 10 million doses of AstraZeneca, and 4.76 millions of unspecified brands through the COVAX program.

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Photo/ from CDC CNA graphic

Only about 2.15 million doses have been delivered to date, but Taiwan has also received donations of 4.86 million doses from the United States and Japan.

The government has also signed contracts to buy 10 million doses of vaccines from two Taiwanese manufacturers.