Egypt received 1.6 million doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine donated by the US government through the COVAX vaccine distribution scheme, the Health Ministry announced on Friday.
Meanwhile, the government urged all state employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Egypt has already received vaccines produced by AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sputnik, Johnson & Johnson, as well as Sinovac, which it is also producing locally.
Health Minister Hala Zayed said Thursday that Egypt received 1,612,260 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the US government in the presence of US Chargé d’Affaires Nicole Shampaine, Assistant Minister of Health Mohamed Hassany, and representatives of the World Health Organization and UNICEF as part of the country’s plan to diversify vaccine sources.
Health Ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed said the two-dose Pfizer vaccine has been approved by WHO and the Egyptian Drug Authority, noting that the shipment will be analyzed in the laboratories of the EDA before being distributed to the 1,100 vaccination centers spread across the country.
Hassany thanked the Chargé d’Affairs for the shipment and noted that the Pfizer delivery is the first batch in a series of shipments from the US to Egypt amounting to about 5 million doses.
Shampaine said the US government and people have been working side-by-side, every day, to fight the coronavirus.
“At the outset of the pandemic, Egypt sent medical supplies to the United States. In August of 2020, the United States sent 250 ventilators to Egypt. Today’s vaccine donation underscores our continuing commitment to support Egypt through this global health crisis,” she noted.
Meanwhile, Egypt recorded 741 COVID-19 infections and 37 deaths in the past 24 hours. In a statement, the Health Ministry said the total number of confirmed infections amounted to 304,524, including 255,886 recoveries, and 17,331 deaths.
On Friday, the Ministry published the locations of the 270 youth centers that have been equipped to vaccinate university students, without prior online registration, to accelerate the vaccination process before the start of the new academic year.
