Egypt: COVID-19 vaccine booster shots could be given within two weeks for those who received SMS

CAIRO - 15 January 2022: The booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine could be obtained within 15 days from the date of sending the message of vaccination to the citizens, said Ministry of Health and Population in a statement on Friday.

 

In December 2021, Egypt’s Cabinet approved to give COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for those who were fully-vaccinated more than six months ago.

 

Acting Minister of Health Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said previously during a Cabinet meeting that SMS will be sent to those people to be notified about the time and the place of receiving the third dose, according to a Cabinet statement.

 

The Acting Minister said that  23 million booster doses will be provided until June 30, 2022.

 

Egypt is witnessing a rise in the number of infections with the Omicron mutant, said Abdel Ghaffar on Friday evening.

 

“Omicron infection is predominant in Egypt,” he added in comments to Al Hekaya talk show on MBC Masr channel.

 

The Acting Minister continued that headache, soar throat and difficulty in swelling food are the most common symptoms associated with Omicron, adding that and there is a similarity between Omicron symptoms and and influenza’s. 

 

Egypt reported on Friday 1,079 new coronavirus cases, upping the total number of confirmed cases reported in Egypt since the beginning of the outbreak to 397,778, according to figures released by the Ministry of Health.

 

In a statement, Spokesman for the Health Ministry Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said 34 patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 22,097.

As many as 893 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 331,607 so far, the spokesman said.