Egyptian health minister gets 2nd shot of candidate coronavirus vaccine

CAIRO – 19 October 2020: Health Minister Hala Zayed headed on Monday to Egypt’s Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) to take the second shot of the candidate coronavirus vaccine developed by the Chinese company Sinopharm.

This came 21 days after she took the first shot, as part of Egypt’s participation in the clinical trials, among many other countries.

Egypt is planning to apply the clinical trials on 6,000 people, and in case 215 persons were infected with COVID-19, the codes of the vaccine will be dismantled and the research will be halted. Then, they will wait for one year along with the measurement of antibodies of the volunteers, and then manufacture the vaccine.

The vaccine will be prepared at Factory 60 at VACSERA, she continued. 

Earlier, Zayed assured that Egypt has a network of 600 hospitals across the country prepared to deal with possible rise in infections as part of a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a press conference held in coordination with WHO, Zayed said: “we developed 45 fever and chest hospitals, and the development process of the remaining hospitals is underway.”

She said that the political leadership has gave huge attention to the Coronavirus pandemic issue, and strongly supported efforts confronting it, adding that “the treatment protocols are being update according to international standards.”