Amid a row over COVID-19 vaccine supply, Taiwan could have come under even greater pressure had it not been for statements by the US and Japan on Friday.
The arrival of 150,000 Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses quenched what could have tipped the scale of public opinion against the US, after American Institute in Taiwan Director Brent Christensen’s controversial remarks on vaccine sharing on Wednesday.
Although the Moderna doses are just the first batch of 5.05 million doses ordered months ago, rather than additional doses shared by Washington amid an outbreak of the virus in Taiwan, their arrival shows that the US supplier