Egypt to start vaccinating high school students against coronavirus within month

CAIRO – 4 October 2021: Egypt will start vaccinating high school (secondary school) students against coronavirus within a month, Minister of Health Hala Zayed said in remarks to media on Sunday.

Cabinet spokesman Nader Saad announced in August that vaccination will be mandatory for all employees in the education sector, including university students, as per presidential directives.

The country seeks to inoculate those categories at least with one shot before the beginning of the new academic year on 9 October.

According to Education Minister Tarek Shawki on Sunday, 8 million doses are needed to vaccinate the high school students.

During her remarks, Zayed said 1.6 million employees in the pre-university education sector have been vaccinated.

Zayed said Egypt vaccinated 3 million employees at the administrative sector of the state among a total of 3.4 million.

Egypt also fulfilled its commitment toward 22 African and Arab states to assist them in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, Zayed said.

Zayed affirmed that the country will be able to produce one million doses of the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine next month, saying 14 European countries have approved Sinovac.

Egypt’s vaccination campaign has started in January using various types of imported and locally-made vaccines and vaccinating millions of citizens.

Zayed said in September that the country has received a total of 33.657 million doses of AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Sinopharm, Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

This in addition to 1.6 million Pfizer vaccine doses granted as a gift to Egypt late last month.