Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Taiwan took delivery of the second shipment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine containing some 240,000 doses Friday afternoon.

The vaccines arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 4:21 p.m. and was subsequently transported to a designated cold storage logistics center for follow-up inspection and sealing operations.

The vaccines are part of 5.05 million doses Taiwan signed a contract on Feb. 8 to purchase from U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc. The first batch of 150,000 doses arrived in Taiwan on May 28.

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) began administering 75,000 doses from that batch to frontline medical workers on June 9, and another 73,200 doses is being administered beginning Friday.

As of Thursday, 44,589 vaccine doses had been administered to these medical workers as well as non-medical personnel at government quarantine centers, according to the CECC.

After taking delivery of the Moderna vaccines, the CECC will discuss with experts about how to distribute the vaccine doses, Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), deputy head of the CECC, said earlier Friday.

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is packaged in multiple-dose form, with each vial containing 10 doses.

The vaccine can be stored at a temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius for six months and at 2 to 8 degrees for about 30 days.

Two doses are needed for the vaccine to be effective, as clinical trials have shown a 94 percent efficacy rate 14 days after the second dose, according to the CECC.