Egypt will Production of Covid-19 Vaccines

UMMATIMES - Egypt has struck a deal with China's Sinovac Biotech to produce a Covid-19 vaccine domestically. Egypt aims to produce up to 80 million doses of vaccine a year.

"The Egyptian cabinet and presidency agreed to a joint manufacturing agreement to make the vaccine which will be distributed in Egypt and other African countries," said Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed.

The treaty deal could provide a big boost to vaccination efforts in Egypt, which has a population of 100 million. To date, Egypt has received only 1.5 million doses of the vaccine. The Health Ministry said one production facility could produce 20 million doses of vaccine every year. Meanwhile, other facilities can produce as many as 60 million vaccines.

Zayed said Egypt had so far received 854,400 doses of the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca as well as 650,000 other Chinese vaccines developed by the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). The number of Sinopharm doses received will soon increase to 1 million.

Egypt began vaccinating frontline medical staff on January 24. Egypt then expanded its launch on March 4 to include the elderly and people with chronic illnesses.