Vaccines are still seen as the best way to allow economies to reopen while keeping the public safe, but many poorer nations are still lagging far behind their richer counterparts -- tens of millions in Asian cities are now once again living in lockdown.
In a statement, Gou said that his Yonglin Foundation plans to apply for 5 million BioNTech doses made and packaged in Germany to be imported into Taiwan.
The shots would be airlifted from Germany to Taiwan without going via any middleman, he added.
The Taiwanese firm reported October-December net profit of T$45.97 billion ($1.61 billion), down 4% compared with the year ago period, the company said in a statement.