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Egypt Seeks to Expand Vaccination Rollout

Egypt Seeks to Expand Vaccination Rollout
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Egypt Seeks to Expand Vaccination Rollout

Egypt Seeks to Expand Vaccination Rollout

The Egyptian government will implement several measures to accelerate COVID-19 inoculations after it received more than 854,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week.

Only 148,987 citizens, including medical staff, healthcare workers and vulnerable groups, have been vaccinated so far, said Health Minister Hala Zayed during a meeting with ministry officials on the inoculation process.

Health Ministry Spokesman Khalid Mujahid said Zayed ordered doubling the number of medical teams at vaccination centers nationwide, as well as the working hours.

She also stressed that the number of citizens visiting each center should not exceed 100 per day, he added.

Workers in the tourism sector will be soon vaccinated, the minister affirmed, especially in coastal governorates as the summer approaches.

Egypt on Wednesday received 854,400 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as part of the global COVAX agreement.

COVAX was established by the Geneva-based GAVI vaccine alliance and the World Health Organization (WHO) for the equitable distribution of vaccines.

The shipment is part of 40 million doses that Egypt is set to receive through GAVI in 2021.

Egypt had received its first 50,000 dose shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this year and 680,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine. It will soon receive 900,000 more doses of Sinopharm.

Mujahid said authorities have opened 40 more centers, taking the total to 139 throughout the country.

In televised comments on Friday, he said authorities are aiming to increase the number of vaccination centers to 200, with 40 in Cairo alone.

Egypt has reported some 250,000 COVID-19 infections, 156,000 recoveries and 12,163 deaths.

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Hezbollah Claims it Foiled Plot to Smuggle Explosive-Laden Pagers in Türkiye

Pagers on display at the Gold Apollo company building in New Taipei City, Taiwan, September 18, 2024 (Reuters)
Pagers on display at the Gold Apollo company building in New Taipei City, Taiwan, September 18, 2024 (Reuters)
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Hezbollah Claims it Foiled Plot to Smuggle Explosive-Laden Pagers in Türkiye

Pagers on display at the Gold Apollo company building in New Taipei City, Taiwan, September 18, 2024 (Reuters)
Pagers on display at the Gold Apollo company building in New Taipei City, Taiwan, September 18, 2024 (Reuters)

Hezbollah has revealed alerting Turkish authorities to a shipment of booby-trapped pagers at Istanbul Airport last September, saying its tip-off prevented a major attack. Turkish media previously reported that national intelligence forces had intercepted a shipment of electronic devices rigged with explosives en route from Istanbul to Lebanon.

According to Turkish sources, the operation took place on September 20, just three days after a deadly incident in Lebanon in which hundreds of communication pagers used by Hezbollah reportedly exploded, killing around 40 people and injuring hundreds. Many of the injuries involved damage to eyes and limbs. Reports at the time indicated that approximately 3,000 devices had detonated. Israel later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed in April that Israeli intelligence had orchestrated the sabotage. Speaking at a conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu revealed that Mossad had tracked pagers Hezbollah sent for scanning in Iran and targeted the scanning equipment beforehand. “We destroyed the scanner and the operator,” he said.

Second Shipment Thwarted

The intercepted shipment in Türkiye was discovered on September 20, after Turkish intelligence received a tip-off about a suspicious cargo scheduled for transfer to Beirut. The shipment had arrived from Hong Kong on September 16 via the Taiwanese company SMT Global Logistics and was falsely declared as containing food processors. It was scheduled to be flown to Lebanon on September 27.

Upon inspection, Turkish authorities found 61 boxes weighing over 850 kilograms. The contents included 1,300 “Gold Apollo 924 R3 GP” pagers, 710 desk chargers, and various electronics such as mixers and audio devices. Detailed analysis revealed that explosive materials had been injected into the pagers’ batteries, allowing for remote detonation via electronic signal or short circuit.

The pagers were traced back to Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo, reportedly linked to a Hungarian company, Bac Consulting KFT, which Turkish media suggest may be a front for intelligence operations.

Hezbollah Confirms it was Behing the Tip-off

Although Turkish authorities did not publicly name the source of the intelligence, Hezbollah confirmed its role. Speaking to Lebanon’s LBCI channel, Hezbollah media official Youssef Zein said the party had warned Turkish officials of a “booby-trapped pager shipment” at Istanbul Airport that was bound for Lebanon.

Pagers are small wireless communication devices used for receiving text messages and alerts and are commonly deployed in field operations. A Lebanese security source stated that Hezbollah had previously ordered 5,000 such devices from Gold Apollo in early 2024.

Israeli media reports claimed the attack on the devices was the result of years of work by Mossad to infiltrate Hezbollah’s communication infrastructure, both to spy on its operations and to physically disrupt its networks.

Israel last week honored three Mossad operatives allegedly involved in the operation. Their identities were kept secret, and they appeared masked at a torch-lighting ceremony during Independence Day celebrations.