{"source_url": "http://www.taipeitimes.com", "url": "http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/01/02/2003728590", "title": "Government flu shots continue", "top_image": "http://www.taipeitimes.com/images/logo.gif", "meta_img": "http://www.taipeitimes.com/images/logo.gif", "images": ["http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/01/02/images/logo1_forfooter.gif", "http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/01/02/images/rss-icon.gif", "http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/01/02/images/arrow_more1.gif", "http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/01/02/images/top.gif", "http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/01/02/images/logo_News.gif", "http://www.taipeitimes.com/images/logo.gif"], "movies": [], "text": "By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter\n\nThe third phase of government-funded flu vaccinations started yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, urging pregnant women, government health workers and others who are eligible for the free vaccinations to get their shots before the Lunar New Year holiday.\n\nThe final round of free vaccinations is available for adults aged 50 to 64; pregnant women and parents of infants younger than six months old; caretakers at long-term care centers and nursing homes; workers at health departments and disease prevention agencies; childcare facility and nursery employees; and poultry, livestock and animal disease prevention workers, the CDC said.\n\nPeople with rare diseases, catastrophic illness, high-risk chronic diseases or a body mass index of 30 and more, are also eligible, it added.\n\nThe government-funded quadrivalent vaccine, provided in three phases to people in higher-risk categories starting from Nov. 15 last year, protects against two strains of influenza A \u2014 H1N1 and H3N2 \u2014 and two strains of influenza B \u2014 the Yamagata and Victoria lineages, it said.\n\nThe first round of shots focused on elementary to high-school students and medical professionals, and the second phase expanded to include preschool children and older people.\n\nThe CDC statistics showed that 109,827 hospital visits for flu-like illness were reported last week, which was 8.1 percent more than the previous week.\n\nAmong 62 serious cases of flu-related complications reported last week, 59 were infected with the H1N1 virus, 18 cases (29 percent) were people aged 50 to 64 and the youngest case was a nine-month-old, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (\u7f85\u4e00\u921e) said on Tuesday.\n\nRecords showed that middle-aged people have lower vaccination rates, but are also at risk of serious complications from the flu, he said.\n\nAll eligible recipients, especially middle-aged people, should be vaccinated, and only under two conditions should they avoid getting vaccinated, Taipei City Hospital\u2019s Renai Branch Community Integrated Care Division director Wu Tai-yin (\u5433\u5cb1\u7a4e) said yesterday.\n\n\u201cThe two conditions are: having had serious adverse reaction after getting vaccinated or having a serious allergic reaction to a certain ingredient in the vaccine, and having an acute severe illness or a fever,\u201d Wu said. \u201cPeople with mild cold symptoms who do not hav a fever are still advised to get vaccinated.\u201d\n\nAs of Sunday, about 3.38 million government-funded vaccines have been administered, with about 1.24 million vaccines unused, and the last batch of about 1.42 million vaccines would be dispatched to local healthcare facilities today, he added.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": ["\u53f0\u5317\u6642\u5831", "The Taipei Times"], "tags": [], "authors": [], "publish_date": "Thu Jan  2 00:00:00 2020", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "The third phase of government-funded flu vaccinations started yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, urging pregnant women, government health workers and others who are eligible for the free vaccinations to get their shots before the Lunar New Year holiday.", "meta_lang": "", "meta_favicon": "images/taipeitimes.ico", "meta_data": {"keywords": "\u53f0\u5317\u6642\u5831,The Taipei Times", "description": "The third phase of government-funded flu vaccinations started yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, urging pregnant women, government health workers and others who are eligible for the free vaccinations to get their shots before the Lunar New Year holiday.", "fb": {"app_id": 204610739643846}, "og": {"title": "Government flu shots continue - Taipei Times", "type": "website", "url": "http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/01/02/2003728590", "description": "The third phase of government-funded flu vaccinations started yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, urging pregnant women, government health workers and others who are eligible for the free vaccinations to get their shots before the Lunar New Year holiday.", "image": "http://www.taipeitimes.com/images/logo.gif"}}, "canonical_link": "http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/01/02/2003728590"}