Dr. Osama Azmi, the Chief of "COVI-VAX" clinical trials, said that the first phase of the trials of the Egyptian COVID-19 vaccine kicked off with only nine participants, RT reported on Sunday.
Azmi added that the first phase should include 72 volunteers, however, only nine participated in the process, asserting that all of them are in a good health, and they are checked every week to detect the impact of the vaccine.
Therefore, Azmi urged the Egyptians who can take part in the clinical trials to submit their names. Regarding the requirements, participants shouldn't be vaccinated by any COVID-19 vaccines before; they shouldn't have had any operations previously or any severe diseases, and their ages should range between 18-50 years old.
In the same context, the official asserted that all participants have medical care services for free during the whole period of clinical trials.
Last week, Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghafar, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research announced the beginning of the clinical trials for locally-manufactured COVID-19 vaccine, “Covi-Vax."
It is worthy to mention that Egypt is currently manufacturing the Chinese “Sinovac” in cooperation with the Chinese authorities.
The deal was inked between the Chinese Embassy in Cairo, Sinovac cooperation, and Vacsera at the headquarter of the Egyptian cabinet in April.
Therefore, the state started producing the vaccine with the participation of Chinese experts. The locally manufactured vaccine went into a strict process of evaluation- 11 tests before it was approved.
Also, the early production of the vaccine went into eight-week studies to be compared to the original production of China.
Finally, Egypt succeeded in delivering the first one million locally manufactured Sinovac doses according to the agreement signed between Sinovac and Vacsera. They were distributed to all vaccination centers in Egypt as Sinovac was approved for emergency use on August 23.
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