Egypt Set to Receive 1.9 Mln Coronavirus Vaccine Doses in July

On Monday, Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said that it is scheduled to receive 1.9 million coronavirus vaccine doses in Egypt through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) in July.

Attending the Cabinet meeting, the chairman of the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) Tamer Essam also confirmed the country will receive the contracted 20 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, Egypt received 210,000 Sputnik V doses and is planning to manufacture over 40 million doses of the Russian vaccine in Cairo.

Zayed, during the meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, said Egypt has the raw materials required to manufacture 10 million doses of China’s Sinovac.

Additional raw materials are scheduled to arrive in the country during the coming two weeks that are enough to produce 7.5 million doses, Zayed added.

Egypt received the first shipment of raw materials to produce Sinovac doses in May. The government plans to produce 40 million doses of the vaccine in the first year.

Late in May, head of the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement Bahaa El-Din Zidan said Egypt contracted with the African Export-Import Bank to import 20 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses.

So far, Egypt has vaccinated almost 5 million citizens against the pandemic, according to Presidential advisor Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din, through over 400 centers distributed nationwide.