CAIRO: Egyptian Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed announced on Thursday that Egypt will receive shipments of AstraZeneca’s and Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccinations next week. The jabs will be distributed across the country, Zayed said.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is being provided in cooperation with the COVAX facility, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, Khaled Mujahid, assistant minister of health, explained, while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being provided in cooperation with the African Union.
As part of the health ministry's plan to expand the provision of vaccines, it is also scheduled to receive the Pfizer vaccine later this month, and will distribute one million doses of the Sinovac vaccine over the next two weeks, Mujahid said.
Centers have been allocated to vaccinate those who want to travel abroad, he added, with 126 centers across the country equipped for data registration and the printing of certificates with QR codes.
He said vaccination reservations can be made through the ministry’s website and that an appointment for vaccination will be provided within 72 hours of registration.
Egypt has ordered around 120 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and production of around a million doses of the Sinovac vaccine has already begun at Egypt's Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) factory in preparation to begin vaccinating citizens in August.
VACSERA is scheduled to produce more than 200 million doses of the vaccine by the end of this year — enough to achieve the government’s goal of vaccinating 40 million citizens and allocating surplus doses for export to regional allies.
