Egyptians aged above 40 yrs start registering for COVID-19 vaccination Sunday

CAIRO – 27 February 2021: Egyptian senior citizens (aged above 40) will be able to register for anti-Coronavirus vaccine online starting from Sunday.

 

After finalizing the vaccination of medical staff at 40 quarantine hospitals for free, the state’s vaccination plan starts on Sunday for high-priority citizens. The registration to get the vaccine is done either online (http://mohpegypt.com) or at certain health facilities. Afterwards, citizens get informed about the time and place where they will receive the vaccine.

 

The Ministry of Health put certain criteria during the registration process on the website, asking citizens to provide 3 medical reports to determine their health status, and then the website automatically determines priority regarding receiving the vaccine. Then, a text message will be sent to citizens on when and where they could receive the vaccine.

 

The eligible citizens have to take two shots of the vaccine (21 days apart) at a cost of LE 200 (US$ 12.73) per shot.

 

In media remarks to Kelma Akhira (Final Word) talk show on ON T.V. on February 23, Egyptian Ministry of Health Hala Abu Zeid said that the ministry is targeting to vaccinate 40 million people aged above 35-40 by the end of 2021. The ministry is targeting 65% of citizens under the age of 35, she added.

 

 

Pregnant women, children under the age of 16, people who suffer allergy, and Immunocompromised patients are excluded from receiving the vaccination.

 

Recently, Egypt has received a vaccine shipment – consisting of 300,000 doses - granted by China.  During a phone call between President Abdel Fatah El Sisi, President Xi Jinping affirmed China’s readiness to share its experience in facing the pandemic with Egypt and to supply the Egyptian state with its coronavirus vaccine needs.

 

Egypt already received 50,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses in December, the first vaccine batch to enter the country for the mass vaccination purpose. Also, it has reserved in principle 10 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, shortly after the country has approved it, according to reports.

 

Health Minister Hala Zayed said Egypt managed to strike international deals to import 100 million vaccine doses against the novel coronavirus in 2021 thanks to its good relations with other countries.

 

It is noted that the vaccination of medical staff was finalized earlier last week by a rate of 50 percent. It has been reported that some of Egyptian medical staff refuse taking the Chinese vaccine as they doubt its effectiveness, although the ministry said earlier that the vaccine is safe and has been subjected to all required tests that proved its efficacy.

 

The ministry referred to a study that found that the Sinopharm vaccine has shown 86 percent efficacy against coronavirus, 99 percent efficacy in producing antibodies to the novel virus and 100 percent efficacy in preventing cases from showing moderate or severe symptoms.

 

The first Egyptian doctor who received the first shot of the vaccine told Youm7 newspaper on January 25, 2021 that his condition was good, saying that there is no need for worry about it.