Egypt’s Drug Authority grants VACSERA-Sinovac vaccine the emergency use license

CAIRO – 23 August 2021: The Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) has permitted VACSERA -Sinovac vaccine the emergency use license as the first locally-manufactured vaccine against Coronavirus.

The vaccine that was manufactured by the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) with partnership of China’s Sinovac biopharmaceutical company passed all necessary evaluation processes by the authority, in accordance with the international rules and references used to assess the safety, quality and effectiveness of vaccines.

The authority confirmed in a statement, Monday, that the granting of the emergency use license for the first locally manufactured vaccine in Egypt came after providing all unprecedented technical and procedural support to VACSERA, with the aim of localizing this important industry and to achieve self-sufficiency in local production as soon as possible.

Earlier, Monday, Health Minster Hala Zayed said, that 15 million doses of the locally-manufactured Sinovac vaccine will be distributed to medical centers all over the country starting, Tuesday.

She added that this locally-manufactured vaccine reduces the rate of hospitalization of the patient by 90 percent.

The President advisor for health and prevention affairs Mohamed Awad Taj El-Din also said Monday that Egypt will be receiving 25 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine over the coming four months.

He added in a statement to Sada al Balad news channel, Monday, that Egypt had negotiations with multiple sources to obtain the vaccine, which accordingly provided a large quantity of it.

He noted that the government is aiming to vaccinate 40 million citizens during the coming period.

The Health Ministry said Sunday night that 184 new coronavirus cases were detected, upping the total number of confirmed cases since the outbreak in the country began to 286,352.

In a statement, Spokesman for the Health Ministry Khaled Megahed said eight patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 16,671.

As many as 229 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 235,864 so far, the spokesman said.