Taiwan rejects COVID vaccine candidate, president to get domestic shot

A medical worker disinfects the chairs after people received a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during a vaccination session for elderly people over 75 years old, at a stadium in New Taipei City, Taiwan June 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ann Wang

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan has rejected an application for the emergency use of UBI Pharma's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the government said on Monday, though the president said she would get a separate domestic shot in a show of support for the scheme.

Although Taiwan has ordered millions of Moderna and AstraZeneca shots, developing a local vaccine has been a major goal and it is due next week to start administering its first domestic vaccine, made by Medigen Vaccine Biologics.