Egypt to produce 1st batch of China’s Sinovac vaccine by June 15

CAIRO- 7 June 2021: Egypt expected to produce the first batch of China’s Sinovac vaccine by June 15 according to Health Minister Hala Zayed.

She added in statements to MBC Misr channel that the Sinovac vaccine will be provided to citizens within a maximum of 6 weeks, and nearly 40 million doses will be produced by the end of the year.

Zayed said that the Chinese manufacturing technology will be transferred to Egypt, stressing that the government has allocated LE 750 million to complete the vaccine production process.

The Health Minster affirmed that there is no difference between the Sinovac vaccine which was manufactured in Egypt and the Chinese-imported version.

Last week, Head of the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) Heba Waly said that the manufacture of China’s Sinovac vaccine in Egypt will take between 8 to 16 weeks.

“We are racing against time to finish our work, as the manufacturing process will start within the current month” Waly said, adding that by the end of this year, VACSERA aims to produce 40 million doses of the vaccine.

Minister of Health Hala Zayed also said earlier that Egypt’s administration gives special interest in locally manufacturing the coronavirus vaccine.

Egypt plans to make Egypt a regional hub for producing the vaccine in Africa after meeting the local needs, as the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) would be the main manufacturer to the Chinese Sinovac in Africa, Zayed said while receiving Chinese experts from Sinovac at VACSERA HQ.

The meeting came in preparation of producing Sinovac vaccine in Egypt, as the first shipment of the raw material used to manufacture China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine arrived in the country on Friday.

The shipment is enough to manufacture two million doses at VACSERA by the end of June.