On Saturday, Egyptian Minister of Health, Dr. Hala Zayed, announced that the ministry had received the third shipment of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine comprising 1.4 million doses donated by the United States, bringing the total to 4.6 million.
“This shipment is part of more than 8 million Pfizer vaccine doses the United States is sending to Egypt as we work side by side to fight the pandemic,” the ministry said in a statement.
The shipments are part of 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses donated by the US to the African Union countries through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX).
"Additional millions of Pfizer doses will arrive in Egypt over the coming weeks," US Ambassador to Egypt Jonathan Cohen said.
Egypt's first Pfizer vaccines shipment arrived in the country from the US late in September.
"Egypt has vaccinated around 22 million people against coronavirus and has administered 30 million doses since the beginning of its nationwide vaccination campaign early this year," presidential advisor for health affairs Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din told media on Friday.
He said Egypt has spent $300-400 million to acquire vaccine doses from different sources.
Egypt’s vaccination campaign currently uses various types of imported vaccines, including Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer, in addition to its locally-made Sinovac/VACSERA.
Egypt aims to vaccine 40 million citizens by the end of the year, allocating around 1,100 vaccination centres nationwide.
Egypt has also adopted a mandatory vaccination approach with many sectors, including all staff in the education sector and the university students, as well as public employees, and those working in the tourism industry.
Egypt is currently suffering from the peak of the fourth coronavirus wave, reporting 322,852 coronavirus cases since the outbreak began in February 2020.
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