Former Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), former Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-Huey (翁啟惠), and Oregon State Professor Chi Chun-Huei (紀駿輝) attended a seminar by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican. The seminar, which took place Tuesday and Wednesday, concerned COVID-19 health policies, vaccination, and long COVID.
Eighteen experts from eight countries were invited to participate in the workshop. They endeavored to review the health and science policies implemented during the pandemic, explore next-generation vaccines and factors driving vaccine hesitancy, and discuss causes and cures for the long-term health consequences of COVID-19 infection.
Wong, who shared the results of his team’s research and development of broad-spectrum vaccines that are effective against current and future variants of the virus, said that many experts at the meeting responded enthusiastically to his work. He said he believes this has increased the visibility of Taiwan’s medical research.
Chen said that Taiwan’s rapid and effective response to COVID-19 was praised by other attendees as a model for epidemic prevention. He added they were especially impressed by Taiwan’s ability to produce high-quality vaccines in a short period of time. Chen also emphasized the importance of enabling Taiwan to cooperate with the international community during global public health crises, to which Chi added that China’s attempt to conceal the epidemic cannot be ignored.
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which is directly supervised by the Holy See, asked Chen to translate the final meeting report into Chinese to further promote their findings.