Egypt received 3,575,040 doses of coronavirus vaccine produced by the Moderna Company, on Friday, at Cairo International Airport.
The shipment is part of an initiative within Egypt’s plan for diversity and expansion in providing vaccines in order to continue to fight the pandemic. On Sunday, Egypt received the first shipment of the Moderna vaccines, with a total of 784,280 doses, provided by Canada through COVAX, in cooperation with Gavi, the vaccine alliance.
The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, currently acting in as Minister of Health and Population, said that Moderna vaccine has emergency use approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Egyptian Drug Authority. The vaccine requires two shots given 21 days apart.
The shipment of vaccines that have been received will be subject to analysis in the laboratories of the Egyptian Drug Authority before being distributed to vaccination centers across Egypt, according to the Minster.
Abdel-Ghaffar noted that Egypt was able, in a short time, to provide all the vaccines against Corona, which included Sinovac, Sinopharma, AstraZeneca, Sputnik, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna.
The Health and Population Ministry encourages all citizens to register on the ministry’s website to receive the vaccine.
He is stressing that the government spares no effort in providing vaccines for free, through permanent cooperation with international organizations and bodies to keep Egypt safe and to ensure the the country’s strong commitment in dealing with the pandemic.
Government statistics showed in October that Egypt has administrated a total of 35 million coronavirus vaccine doses at a cost of US$400.
Egypt’s vaccination campaign began in January with priority groups and later expanded to university students. Registration for the jab is open to all. The country aims to vaccinate 40 million people by September.
