Taiwan's push to shortcut vaccine approval sparks debate

Taiwan is planning to take a regulatory shortcut that would allow vaccines currently under development to be given out before the final stage of testing is finished

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- At the end of May, Chen Pei-jer, a member of an expert committee in Taiwan to evaluate COVID-19 vaccines for use on the island, resigned. Chen's resignation came after he learned that Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration planned to take a regulatory shortcut in approving two vaccines being developed in Taiwan. The shortcut would allow the shots to be given to people for emergency use before the vaccines have finished the final stage of testing. The proposed shortcut comes as Taiwan scrambles to get vaccines amid its worst outbreak of the pandemic, and has also recorded its first cases of the highly contagious delta variant originally found in India. Supporters say the shortcut is needed because Taiwan is in a real crunch, and they argue that the move could soon become more common worldwide. That's because as more vaccines roll out, it's getting increasingly difficult to conduct the usual tests of a vaccine's efficacy. But as Chen's resignation shows, the proposed move has also raised concerns about the risks, chiefly regarding whether people might be given a vaccine that ultimately is shown not to work.