Founder of Apple supplier Foxconn seeks to buy BioNTech vaccine for Taiwan amid Covid flare-up
Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. The Taiwanese government's own deal with BioNTech fell through earlier this year
Foxconn and its billionaire founder Terry Gou sought permission from Taiwan's government to buy Covid-19 vaccines from Germany's BioNTech after the island was hit with a rise in infections.
The proposed purchase of 5m doses, which would be distributed among the general population, comes after the government ceded to pressure from opposition parties to allow companies, religious groups, and local governments to arrange imports.
The Taiwanese government's own deal with BioNTech fell through earlier this year — a problem Taiwan has blamed on pressure from Beijing. China has denied the accusation. BioNTech declined to comment.
Mr Gou, who has retired from the world's largest contract manufacturer, said it hopes to airlift the shots from Germany to Taiwan without going via any middlemen.
Taiwan health minister Chen Shih-chung expressed his gratitude to Gou and said the government was reviewing the application.
After recording just a handful of daily infections for months, Taiwan is now dealing with relatively large numbers of community transmissions.
It has vaccinated less than 2% of its 23.5m people, but has almost 30m shots on order from AstraZeneca, Moderna, and two domestic firms. While it welcomes help in obtaining vaccines from companies and religious groups, Taiwan's government has stipulated that only it can distribute the shots. Companies and other groups must also provide letters of authorisation from the original manufacturer. Mr Gou's office said it had provided all the documentation the government had requested.
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical has a contract with BioNTech to sell the vaccines in Greater China, including to Taiwan, but Taiwan's government says it has and will only deal with BioNTech in Germany and that it does not trust vaccines from China. Fosun did not respond to a request for comment on Foxconn and Mr Gou's plans.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office, in a statement to Reuters, reiterated it was Fosun's commercial right to sell the BioNTech vaccine to Taiwan and that China's government was coordinating with "relevant parties" on the island to talk to Fosun. It gave no details. Outside of Greater China, BioNTech has partnered with Pfizer.
Taiwan's Buddha Light International Association has also proposed importing up to 500,000 shots of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine. Chao Yi, the association's president, said it would be seeking to get in touch with the US pharma giant this week after it had previously expressed willingness to sell the group vaccines. The association is working on the documentation required by the government.
However, Johnson & Johnson said it was only negotiating with government bodies and supranational organisations like the European Commission for vaccine purchases.
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