Egypt finalizes procedures to receive Covid-19 vaccine shipments

CAIRO – 4 August 2021: Egypt’s Health and Population Minister Hala Zayed announced, Wednesday finalizing all needed documents as a final step to receive the shipment of two Covid-19 vaccines [AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson], which will arrive in Egypt next week.

Once received, the vaccines will be distributed to all vaccination centers nationwide, Spokesman for the Ministry Khaled Megahed said.

He added that the shipment of AstraZeneca vaccine was agreed upon after cooperation with COVAX facility, the WHO and UNICEF.

The Johnson & Johnson shipment came after cooperation with the African Union (AU), he said, adding that Egypt will further receive a shipment of Pfizer vaccine this month, according to him.

Moreover, a million doses of Sinovac vaccine will be distributed within the coming couple of weeks, Megahed said.

According to the spokesman, 126 centers have been allocated to vaccinate those willing to travel abroad.

In July, Zayed announced that Egypt will receive 148.2 million doses of Covid 19 vaccine as of August till the year end. The doses will be sufficient to inoculate 83.7 million citizens.

New quantities of China's Sinovac COVID-19 raw materials are to arrive in the country in August to manufacture 70.2 million jabs, she said.

The new arrivals will also include 20 million doses of Sputnik vaccine, 20 million doses of Johnson &Johnson vaccine, 35.6 million of AstraZeneca and 2.4 million of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, she added.