51% of target groups in Egypt vaccinated as 5th coronavirus wave largely passed: Min.

CAIRO – 12 March 2022: Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and Acting Minister of Health, said 51 percent of target groups in Egypt have been vaccinated, noting that the fifth coronavirus wave in the country is fading.

In telephone remarks to Ala Masoliety program on Sada El-Balad, Abdel-Ghaffar said the country seeks to vaccinate 70 percent of the target group by mid-2022.

Abdel-Ghaffar said the Omicron variant has weakened, which has led to a decrease in the number of infections with coronavirus. He, however, urged citizens to continue to follow the precautionary measures.

Until Friday, Egypt has reported 497,373 coronavirus cases and 24,277 deaths due to the pandemic since the outbreak of coronavirus started in Egypt early in 2020.

The country also announced fully vaccinating more than 41.5 million citizens against coronavirus and providing over 1.4 million boaster shots.

The ministry, however, announced on Saturday that it will replace its daily coronavirus report, which it had continued to issue since the start of the pandemic, with a weekly report.

Earlier, Egypt held a press conference to announce the start of clinical trials for the Egyptian vaccine EgyVacc. This is the second locally made vaccine after CoviVacc, whose clinical trials started in November.