Taipei, April 7 (CNA) Taiwan has plans to procure more of the antiviral COVID-19 drug Paxlovid from Pfizer, according to Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on Thursday.
Paxlovid is hard to get hold of, but the government's plan is to procure at least 100,000 more courses of this antiviral drug, Chen told legislators at a committee hearing on Taiwan's response to the recent rise in domestic COVID-19 cases.
Asked to elaborate on the details, he said negotiations with the American drugmaker were still ongoing, so it was difficult to estimate the exact quantity for now.
Earlier this year, Taiwan signed a deal with Pfizer to procure 20,000 courses of the oral COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid, with the first batch containing 3,200 courses delivered on Jan. 27.
The roughly 15,000 remaining courses of Paxlovid have yet to be received, the health minister said.
The country has so far ordered a combined total of 25,000 courses of Paxlovid and Molnupiravir from drugmaker Merck, which is also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) outside the United States and Canada, he added.
According to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), the country took delivery of the first batch of the antiviral pill Molnupiravir, containing 2,016 courses, on Jan. 24.
These pills, Chen said, are to be delivered to Taiwan in separate batches.
During the hearing, the health minister said the CECC, which he also heads, will hold discussions next week on a guideline for people with light COVID-19 symptoms to quarantine at home.
There are several issues that still need to be addressed before such a policy can be implemented, he said, citing as an example how COVID-19 patients can receive the appropriate care if they are in home quarantine even with light symptoms.
While Taiwan already has a smart healthcare platform in place, Chen said there were still some remaining issues such as how to provide healthcare services remotely on a very large scale.
