Sinovac Vaccine locally produced in Egypt
CAIRO - 3 July 2020: Egypt signed contracts to get nearly 120 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, however about 10 million doses are available so far due to the high world demand of COVID-19 jabs, Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Friday.
Zayed said in televised statements that Egypt’s VACSERA has produced around 650,000 doses of the China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, and stability studies on vaccine are conducted and will take a few days, and then the vaccine will be ready to be administered to Egyptian citizens in August.
Egypt will receive raw materials within days to manufacture more doses of Sinovac vaccine, she said.
No stability studies will be conducted in the coming stages of manufacturing and the vaccine will be offered directly to the vaccination centers, she added.
The minister revealed that Egypt is studying vaccinating citizens, who were administered AstraZeneca for their first dose with any other vaccine in the second dose to give them more immunity.
But, Egypt is waiting for the recommendations of the World Health Organization, she clarified.
Egypt seeks to vaccinate 40 million people by the end of the current year, she added.
The Health Ministry said Friday night that 198 new coronavirus cases were detected, upping the total number of confirmed cases since the outbreak in the country began to 281,772.
In a statement, Spokesman for the Health Ministry Khaled Megahed said 21 patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 16,215.
As many as 666 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 212,725 so far, the spokesman said.
Naeema Al-Gasseer, the representative of the World Health Organization in Egypt congratulated Egypt for locally producing the first batch of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.
Egypt’s Minister of Health Hala Zayed announced on Wednesday that Egypt managed to already produce the first 300,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine through the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA).
Zayed said Sinovac has approved the possibility that Egypt produces 80 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine per six months.
Starting August, 10-15 million Egypt-made vaccine doses will be available per month to vaccinate 40 million citizens by the end of the year, Zayed said.
So far, the country has allocated over 400 centers to serve as vaccination points.
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