Presidential adviser says 'Egypt vaccinated 18M citizens against Covid-19 so far'

CAIRO - 17 October 2021: Presidential Adviser for Health Affairs Awad Tag Eddin said that 18 million citizens have been vaccinated against Covid-19 so far.

Speaking to On E TV channel, he reiterated on Saturday that the manufacturing of some 60 million doses of anti-coronavirus vaccines is set to be completed by late October.

He pointed out that 40 million citizens will be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of this year. The third dose of the vaccine will start with medical cadres, the elderly and people with chronic diseases under the directives of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

The presidential adviser praised the high turnout of citizens to receive the jab at a total of 1,200 vaccination centers. He added that the vaccination of students will start with university students, then the vaccination of other students under 18 will be considered.

Cairo International Airport received on Oct. 17 totally 1,611,090 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine provided by the US government.

The shipment was provided through COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) in cooperation with the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) as part of the Egyptian state’s efforts to diversify and expand the use of vaccines.

Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said the vaccine doses will be examined by the Egyptian Drug Authority before being distributed to 1,100 vaccination centers nationwide within 14 days at most.

Egypt received late in September its first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine comprising 1,612,260 doses.