Egypt on Saturday received around 1.4 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as part of the global COVAX agreement, the health ministry said.
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 a 500-million-dose donation from the United States to the countries of the African Union through COVAX.
The government stressed that it is keen to provide vaccines to its citizens for free through permanent cooperation with international organizations and bodies to address the pandemic.
Health Minister Hala Zayed said that Egypt received 1,398,150 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the US government 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.
Egypt will receive on Monday the third batch of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, obtaining more than one million doses in cooperation with the African Union.
Meanwhile, the health ministry urged citizens to “register on its website to receive their vaccine doses.”
Egypt recorded 885 COVID-19 infections and 44 deaths in the past 24 hours. In a statement, the Health Ministry said the total number of confirmed infections amounted to 322,852, including 272,505 recoveries, and 18,195 deaths.
