Vaccination campaign to kick off in Egypt in January: presidential advisor

CAIRO – 22 January 2021: Vaccination campaigns will kick off in Egypt during this month, presidential advisor for health affairs Awad Tag El-Din said, while the country continues to record a decreasing number of daily coronavirus cases.

In a telephone interview with DMC, the presidential advisor said Egypt has negotiated with a number of companies developing vaccines, adding that vaccines of Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca will soon be approved in Egypt.

Coronavirus vaccine doses will be provided to the medical staff at quarantine hospitals starting Sunday, January 24, official sources at the Health Ministry told Egypt Today.

Vaccination will be optional and free of charge, the sources said, given that quarantine hospitals’ medical staff are among the priority groups.

Egypt received its first batch of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine in December, consisting of 50,000 doses. Tag El-Din said earlier that Egypt contracted with Gavi to obtain 20 million vaccine doses.

Health Minister Hala Zayed said in December the priority in distributing the vaccine will be given to the medical staff in isolation hospitals, as well as chest and fevers hospitals, she said.

Also, cancer or kidney failure patients, older people and persons suffering from chronic diseases will be prioritized.

Sinopharm’s vaccine, according to UAE and Egypt, has an 86 percent efficacy against coronavirus. It has been involved in clinical trials in Egypt over the past few months. Minister Zayed was one of the volunteers.

The vaccine is injected in the upper arm. It consists of two shots, 21 days apart.

The Chinese vaccine has shown 99 percent efficacy in producing antibodies to the novel virus and 100 percent efficacy in preventing cases from showing moderate or severe symptoms, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said.