The Tzu Chi Foundation, a major Buddhist group in Taiwan, is hoping to buy five million doses of BioNTech SE's (Nasdaq:BNTX) COVID-19 vaccine, Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday.

The foundation said that after "initial progress" had been made in sourcing the shots, it had submitted application documents to the government to be allowed to buy five million BioNTech doses.

Reportedly, the Taiwanese government had received the documents and was reviewing them.

The foundation joins the Terry Gou, the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., (Foxconn) (TPE:2354), and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TPE:2330) in trying to secure COVID-19 vaccines for the country.

Both Foxconn and TSMC are proposing buying five million BioNTech doses each, to donate to the government.

Reportedly, Taiwan's government has millions of vaccines on order but has been hampered by global supply shortages, although Japan and the US donated 3.74 million doses to the country this month, Reuters added.