CAIRO: Egypt said Wednesday it plans to manufacture one billion doses a year of China’s Sinovac vaccine, claiming it would become the Middle East and Africa’s “biggest vaccine producer.”
Under the deal with the Chinese pharmaceutical company, a factory in Cairo will produce more than 200 million doses per year to cover “national needs,” Health Minister Hala Zayed told a press conference.
A second factory will produce three million doses per day, “or around a billion a year,” with a view to exporting the vaccine for Covid-19 and responding to demand in Africa, Zayed added.
The move would make Egypt “the biggest vaccine producer in the Middle East and Africa,” an official statement said.
Heba Wali, the doctor in charge of the project, said the Egyptian drug authority had given its go-ahead and that “one million doses have already been distributed in Egypt.”
Chinese experts had previously traveled to Egypt to inspect equipment and materials for producing the Sinovac vaccine at factories belonging to state firm Vacsera.
Egypt, with a population of over 100 million, has officially recorded more than 288,000 Covid-19 cases, including over 16,700 deaths.
Some 7.5 million Egyptians have had at least one vaccine dose.
Egypt plans to make 1 billion Sinovac vaccines a year
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Egypt plans to make 1 billion Sinovac vaccines a year
- The move would make Egypt “the biggest vaccine producer in the Middle East and Africa,” a statement said
- Experts had previously traveled to Egypt to inspect equipment and materials for producing the vaccine
Iraq welcomes the appointment of Iran’s new supreme leader
- Armed faction Kataeb Hezbollah said it reflects a profound understanding “of the existential challenges confronting the nation”
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani welcomed on Monday the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader after his predecessor and father was killed in US and Israeli strikes.
“We express our confidence in the ability of the new leadership in the Islamic Republic of Iran to manage this critical stage,” and to further strengthen “the unity of the Iranian people” amid the current challenges, Sudani said in a statement.
He stressed that Iraq stands in solidarity with Iran and supports “all steps aimed at ending the conflict.”
Iran wields significant influence in Iraqi politics, and also backs armed groups whose power has grown both politically and financially.
Iraq has for decades been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran.
Pro-Tehran Iraqi groups were among the first to welcome the new supreme leader.
The powerful Badr organization said the new leadership represents a “blessed continuity of the path of the Islamic revolution.”
The Asaib Ahl Al-Haq faction said choosing Mojtaba Khamenei shows continuity and “reinforcement of the Islamic republic’s role as a central pillar in the axis of resistance.”
Armed faction Kataeb Hezbollah said it reflects a profound understanding “of the existential challenges confronting the nation.”
“The best successor to the best predecessor,” said Kataeb Hezbollah, which is part of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq — a pro-Iran alliance that has been claiming attacks on US bases since the start of the war in the Middle East.
Senior Iraqi politician and moderate cleric Ammar Al-Hakim wished the new supreme leader “success in following the path of his martyred father... in upholding the word of truth.”
