Most vaccines 疫苗 are not prescribed under the National Health Insurance in Taiwan
2025 04 18 Owen Yang
Most vaccines are not prescribed under National Health Insurance (NHI) in Taiwan, and therefore not expected to be complete in Prescribing in Taiwan.
The
Influenza Vaccines #J07BB
here does not reflect the immunisation rate in Taiwan, but reflects a short period of time in which some hospitals recorded its use under the NHI, possibly for the convenience of being paid for via the NHI channel.
The
Tetanus Vaccine #J07AM
here reflects the use of this vaccine after injuries.
How many people do we expect to receive tetanus vaccine 破傷風疫苗 in a typical year?
2025 03 16 Owen Yang
Tetanus vaccine (#J07AM) is used to prevent tenanus when there is open wound. Although tetanus vaccine is also a component in routine childhood vaccine, the childhood vaccine is not expected to be recorded in the National Health Insurance becauese it belongs to a different reimbursement scheme.
Therefore, the tetanus vaccine recorded in the Taiwan National Health Insurance should mainly be presribed from the tetanus prevention after injury.
In the Prescribing in Taiwan analysis we found at least 1 in 20 teenagers or adults were prescribed tetanus vaccine each year (see
graph
here). I do not know what to expect, but this rate is really higher than I could have imagined.
there is also a consistent age gap, higher in males and lower in females, receiving tetanus vaccine across all of these age groups. This could be due to gender roles but I find it interesting how consistent the age gap is to the entire age range.
