Did the Government Have Enough Vaccines? Tzu Chi Scam: Chiang Wan-an Recalls the Past

The Tzu Chi Foundation's vaccine procurement scam has been exposed, resulting in over 100 million NT dollars in losses. The prosecutors have indicted Chen Yu-yuan, former president of the Changhua Bar Association, and seized a large amount of his assets, but the political storm is escalating. FTV chairman Hsieh Chin-he said that Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an's statement that 'if the DPP government had purchased enough vaccines at the time, private groups wouldn't have needed to procure them' is unfair and reverses black and white. On August 8, Chiang Wan-an attended a typhoon response meeting and expressed gratitude to private groups, but emphasized that the people's painful memories will not be erased.

How did Taiwan survive the COVID-19 vaccine shortage? Who extended a helping hand? On August 7, Hsieh Chin-he posted an article titled 'Remembering a Few Things from the Pandemic' on Facebook, pointing out that the Tzu Chi scam has sparked a cross-party debate. Chiang Wan-an first asked, 'Do we believe Tzu Chi or the DPP government?' and later responded, 'If the government had purchased enough vaccines at the time, private groups wouldn't have needed to procure them!' This statement is not fair. He recalled that in June 2021, amid global competition for vaccines and Chinese blockades, then-President Tsai Ing-wen invited Terry Gou and others to a meeting to procure BNT vaccines; then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also donated 1.24 million doses of AZ vaccines to Taiwan, followed by another 1.13 million doses the next month. 'Vaccines are the most precious treasures for saving lives!'

Did private groups need to procure vaccines because the government didn't purchase enough? Hsieh Chin-he recalled that at the time, Moderna's stock price rose to $497.49, and Fosun Pharmaceutical's stock price, which led BNT, rose to HK$22. When vaccines were most scarce, the opposition party kept criticizing the government's incompetence and even demanded that the government purchase Chinese vaccines. Later, Sinopharm's vaccine had problems and stopped production, fortunately, Taiwanese people did not receive Sinopharm's vaccine. At the end, Hsieh Chin-he bluntly said that today, someone claims 'if the government had purchased enough vaccines, private groups wouldn't have needed to procure them,' which is unfair. Taiwan's epidemic prevention has been praised by the world, and then-epidemic prevention commander Chen Shih-chung has no merit but has hard work. 'Today, many people have forgotten the difficulty at the time, and even reversed black and white, which is heartbreaking!'

During the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines were once difficult to obtain. (Photo: Lu Yi-feng)

What did Chiang Wan-an say about the Tzu Chi vaccine scam?

On the other hand, after the Tzu Chi incident escalated, the green camp named Chiang Wan-an, who has been vocal on domestic issues recently, accusing him of smearing the government and the epidemic prevention team at the time. His opponent, DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Bo-yang, also criticized that the claim of 'believing the DPP and Tzu Chi' is misleading. Regarding Hsieh Chin-he's criticism of his statement that 'if the government could have procured enough vaccines at the time, private groups would not have needed to raise funds to procure them,' Chiang Wan-an reiterated in an interview on August 8 that he still needs to thank the private groups and frontline medical staff who extended a helping hand, but today, someone is trying to erase the people's memories; he listed that at the time, the government blocked vaccine procurement for specific businesses, 3+11, Wanhua was the weak point, etc., these painful memories the people will not forget.