Sisi Orders Providing Coronavirus Vaccines Once Internationally Available

A health team at the temporary coronavirus test center in Cairo on June 17, 2020 (AP)
A health team at the temporary coronavirus test center in Cairo on June 17, 2020 (AP)
TT

Sisi Orders Providing Coronavirus Vaccines Once Internationally Available

A health team at the temporary coronavirus test center in Cairo on June 17, 2020 (AP)
A health team at the temporary coronavirus test center in Cairo on June 17, 2020 (AP)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ordered providing vaccines for the novel coronavirus once they are made available by international companies, said Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly on Thursday.

Head of Egypt’s Authority for Unified Procurement, Medical Supply and Technology Management Bahaa El-Din Zidan has recently sent a report to Madbouly on the efforts exerted by his authority to follow up on the latest developments worldwide on the coronavirus vaccines.

Zidan said the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) has presented the available vaccines, the manufacturers, and the different stages of their development, as well as the timetable for the process of manufacturing and exporting the vaccine to various countries.

The vaccines are to be manufactured in September and October and GAVI will adopt a plan for distributing them across the affected countries, he added.

Egypt has reiterated its share of the coronavirus vaccine from GAVI during a meeting held on Tuesday between representatives of the authority and officials from the global alliance, he affirmed.

The GAVI is an international body aimed at creating equal access to new and underused vaccines for children.

Along with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), GAVI co-leads the COVAX Facility, a financing mechanism designed to guarantee rapid and fair access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.

It aims to deliver two billion doses of safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021.

Egypt has recorded 30,075 recoveries from COVID-19 since the pandemic’s outbreak.

The Ministry of Health and Population revealed on Thursday that “the index of recovery and discharge from quarantine centers continued to rise after earlier recording 33.5 percent.”

The relative stability in the rates of coronavirus infections in the country has increased the chances of overcoming the crisis.

The government has been gradually easing virus restrictions since June.



US Ambassador to Lebanon 'Very Happy' over Aoun's Election as President

People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights
People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights
TT

US Ambassador to Lebanon 'Very Happy' over Aoun's Election as President

People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights
People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights

US ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson said she was "very happy" over Lebanese army commander Joseph Aoun's election as president on Thursday, ending a more than two-year vacuum in the post.

Johnson and other foreign envoys had attended Thursday's session at the Lebanese parliament in which Aoun was elected.

For its part, France's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday said the election of a new Lebanese president turns a new page for the country and must now be followed by the appointment of a new government capable of carrying out reforms.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said that a new government will have carry out reforms necessary for Lebanon's economic recovery, stability, security and sovereignty, and added that France calls on all Lebanese political leaders and authorities to work towards those goals.