Elderly, medical teams in Egypt eligible for 3rd COVID-19 vaccine shot: Health Ministry spox

CAIRO – 25 November 2021: A third booster shot of coronavirus vaccine will be administered to the elderly and medical teams as well as groups who are most at rick of infection with the virus, Health Ministry Spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said on Wednesday.

Those groups include patients with primary immunodeficiency or those who are subject to immunosuppressive treatments, Abdel Ghaffar said.

A total of 4.1 million Egyptian citizens are eligible for a third booster coronavirus vaccine shot six months or more after taking the second vaccine dose, Government Spokesman Nader Saad said on Wednesday.

A total of 29 million citizens have received the first coronavirus vaccine shot, Saad said, noting that those who also received the second shot totals 15 million.

Citizens of the 15-18 years old age group will receive a single dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, Saad noted.

So far, Egypt has reported a total of 353,024 coronavirus cases and 20,109 fatalities since the start of the pandemic in February 2020.

Egypt has started its vaccination campaign in January this year, during which around 40 million citizens have been vaccinated against the novel virus, according to officials.

The country has received all types of vaccines worldwide, the latest of which was Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson.

Minister of Higher Education and Acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar told a Cabinet meeting late in October that the country has received 72 million coronavirus vaccine doses and is expected to receive 26 million others soon.