Vaeno (22) joins the province on loan from the amber and blacks and may see some playing time for his new team as early as this Sunday.
Otago coach Cory Brown said with the injuries and a lack of experience in replacements from inside the province it was decided to seek Vaeno on loan.
He has seen limited playing time with Taranaki which has plenty of depth in the wings with Declan O'Donnell, Beaudin Waaka and All Black Waisake Naholo.
Vaeno made two appearances for the Chiefs last year and was a powerful runner with the ball.
With youngsters Vilimoni Koroi and Jona Nareki already in the back three, Brown felt it was too much of a risk to have another young player at the back.
Brown said University winger Gavin Stark had injured his toe in a club game back in July and had not played since. He had broken a bone and damaged a ligament in one of his toes and it was hard to gauge when he would be available again.
Even then he would not have played for the best part of three months and would struggle for match fitness.
Matt Faddes was out for the season with a broken hand while Michael Collins had just got out of a moon boot due to a stress fracture in his leg.
His injured leg would be scanned again next week and, if the prognosis was good, he could be back on the field near the back end of the season.
Winger Mitchell Scott was also carrying some niggles and slightly strained his groin in the warm-up in last Saturday's game against Manawa