Taiwan’s Medigen Covid vaccine to be trialed in Paraguay despite corruption charges filed by opposition

The manufacturers of Taiwan’s Medigen Covid vaccine have announced the next trials for the jab will take place in Paraguay. However, the island’s main opposition party has filed corruption charges against the organization.

Medigen Vaccines Biologics Corp shared information on Tuesday surrounding the late-stage trial process of the Taiwanese vaccine, with 1,000 volunteers in Paraguay set to be involved in the phase-three trials later this year.

The trial is expected to take place soon, between July and September. Data from the trial, however, is not due until the final quarter of the year.

However, Taiwan’s main opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT) has launched corruption charges against the director of Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration, Wu Xiumei, and other health ministers on Tuesday. The KMT do not believe that the vaccine should have been authorized for emergency use, slamming it as being of a low standard.

On Monday, Medigen’s vaccine – MVC-COV1901 – was approved for use and production by the Taiwanese government despite an absence of conclusive phase-two trial data – the stage that tests the vaccine amongst people of a similar group, be they linked by age or physical health.

According to data from June, 99.8% of respondents had a good immunization response to the vaccine, meaning that almost all volunteers produced antibodies to combat coronavirus. Medigen is on par with antibody response levels from AstraZeneca, with over nine in 10 people having a strong immune response from the Oxford jab.

Taiwan has so far approved only the Moderna jab and Oxford’s AstraZeneca one for emergency use. China, which considers Taiwan as an integral part of Chinese territory, has offered to ship vaccines many times, but the island has declined. So far, less than 1% of the population is fully inoculated, but over 20% have received one dose.

Paraguay is the only country to have democratic relations with Taiwan in Latin America, and one of the 15 countries that formally recognizes the country as separate from Beijing.

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