Biography
I am Tzu-Chun Tsai, Director General of Public Health Department, Taoyuan City Government, has been involved in the field of public health and medicine.
With board-certified pediatrics, immunology, and nephrology, I was good at critical care, acute and chronic diseases and dealt with various patients aged from infants to the elders. I also devoted in research with expertise in epidemiology, clinical medicine, and molecular biology and in education about biomedical science at National Yang-Ming University, National Ilan University, and National Taiwan Ocean University. In the meanwhile medical practice, I also got involved in bench research and won the degree of Master of Science in biotechnology in February2009. I continued to pursue a Ph.D. for clinical medicine. I participated in international fellowship training about medical care of kidney transplantation of children and adolescences in the Children’s Center of Heidelberg University Hospital.
Tsai, T.
Paper
The Effect of the Policy of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Shot for Elders of Taoyuan City
Pneumonia in Taiwan is the third leading cause of death in 2016. The main pathogen is Streptococcus pneumoniae. It not only causes commonly clinical Otitis media, Sinusitis, and Bronchitis, but also Invasive Pneumococcal Disease, IPD like Sepsis, Pneumonia, and Meningitis. Serious symptoms can cause death. The people above 65 years old are the high-risk group. During 2008~2012 in Taoyuan, the average definitely diagnosed rate of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease, IPD for every year is 3.21 people of every ten thousand people. To prevent the elders from the threat of Pneumonia, Taoyuan City Government not only promotes the policy of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine shot for the elders above 75 years old from central government, but also purchases Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine shots from 2013 which provides more elders from 65 to 74 years old to get shot.
Below are the ways to implement the policy of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine shot for the elders in Taoyuan: 1. Convenient vaccine shot service for citizens. Through the District Public Health Centers and contracted medical institutions to provide vaccine shot service throughout the year. 2. diversified promotion. Through flyer, poster, short film, broadcast, press conference, etc., to enhance citizens’ health awareness and provide service messages for them. 3. Vaccine shot database establishment. Every vaccine shot institution will complete the inward remittance process of vaccine shot data for National Immunization Information System (NIIS) to provide data analysis and policy formulation. 4. Checking system. Contracted medical institutions should use Medical Institution Immunization Information System to check immunization information every year and paste the marked sticker on health insurance card after shot to decrease abnormal shot events.
During plan implementation from 2013-2016, 29602 Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine shots are done. The population’s percentage from 65 years old to 74 years old and have gotten shot is 21.04%. According to the statistics, the definitely diagnosed rate of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease, IPD is from 2.54 people of every ten thousand people in 2014, to 1.99 and 1.86 people every year which decreases gradually in Taoyuan with rate of 26.7%.
After promoting Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine shot policy for the elders from 2013, the definitely diagnosed rate of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease, IPD has decreased gradually year-on-year. In the future, reference to the advice from ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) continues to provide the elders Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine shot service, to connect with international world, and to provide more complete protection for local elders.
