Egypt vaccinates 170K citizens against coronavirus in centers in markets, train stations

CAIRO – 22 January 2022: Egypt’s Health Ministry said 170,000 citizens have been administered with the coronavirus vaccine in centers stationed in markets as well as train and metro stations since they were opened in December.

Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Acting Health Minister, inspected on Saturday the Aswan railway station center designated for coronavirus vaccination since it was opened on 13 January.

“This comes within the framework of the Ministry of Health and Population’s plan to expand vaccination of citizens,” a statement by the Egyptian Health Ministry said.

The ministry said three vaccination centers have been established in train stations in Minya, Assiut, and Aswan over the past two days.

This raises the number of vaccination centers covered by “Maan Natmaen – Together We Get Assured” campaign to 25, including seven in train stations and 14 in metro stations.

This is in addition to four centers in commercial markets and malls, the ministry added.

Egypt has received 132 million coronavirus vaccine doses since the start of the pandemic and already used 60.5 million doses throughout its vaccination campaign, Abdel Ghaffar said earlier this month.

In a Cabinet meeting, Abdel Ghaffar noted that 500,000 booster vaccine shots have been administered in Egypt to priority groups.

Children with ages ranging from 15 to 18 have received 1.4 million vaccine shots, while younger children of the age group 12-15 received 206,000 shots, Abdel Ghaffar added.

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, sore 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 influenza.