CAIRO – 10 May 2021: 1.7 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine expected to arrive Egypt, Monday through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), the Health Ministry announced.
Minister of Health Hala Zayed, affirmed that Coronavirus vaccines are ‘safe and effective’, as Egypt will be receiving more batches of the vaccine during the current month.
Earlier in April, Egypt received 845,400 AstraZeneca vaccine doses as part of COVAX.
The shipment came as part of 40 million doses set to reach Egypt in succession through COVAX, co-led by the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Egypt has started its vaccination campaign in January, starting with the medical teams at quarantine hospitals, for being on top of priority groups in terms of vaccination.
Egypt late in January received its first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine, consisting of 50,000 doses, from India, The country has so far also obtained 650,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine,
AstraZeneca says its vaccine has proven 76 percent efficacy against symptomatic coronavirus and 100 percent efficacy against severe or critical symptoms.
The company says for people aged 65 years and over, the vaccine has shown 85 percent efficacy against symptomatic coronavirus.
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 eligible citizens have to take two shots of the Sinopharm vaccine (21 days apart) and four weeks apart for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Late in March, Health Minister Hala Zayed announced raising the number of coronavirus vaccination centers nationwide from 40 to 138.