Taipei - Taiwan will hold the second bidding round for the purchase of 5 million doses of flu vaccine after the first round failed because there were not enough bidders, an official said Friday. "The first bidding round flopped because there was only one bidder but we needed at least three bidders to make the bidding round valid," Shih Wen-yi, spokesman for the Centres for Disease Control, said.
"We will invite tenders next Monday and close the bidding round next Friday," he said.
According to Taiwan law, the first bidding round must have at least three bidders to make it valid, but there is no such requirement for the second bidding round.
Shih said it is difficult to find a pharmaceutical company to supply large amounts of flu vaccine now because many countries are rushing to buy the drugs.
Taiwan eventually hopes to acquire 10 million doses of flu vaccine to prevent a large-scale outbreak of swine flu which erupted in Mexico in April and quickly spread to other countries.
So far Taiwan has reported 72 cases of swine flu infection. Most of the patients had mild cases and have recovered.
