El-Said Discusses Localizing Vaccine Manufacturing in Egypt

Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, discussed on Thursday ways to localize vaccine manufacturing in Egypt.

This came during a meeting with the Vice President and Assistant Treasurer of Pfizer International Pharmaceutical Company Brian McMahon and his accompanying delegation.

The delegation included David Bloom, Professor of Economics in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University and Yousry Nawar, Regional Director of Pfizer Pharmaceutical Industries.

During the meeting, the minister indicated that the new health insurance system and the health initiatives implemented by the country during the previous period contributed significantly to Egypt's progress in human development indicators.

On his part, Nawar pointed out that following the meeting of the President of Pfizer Company for the Africa and the Middle East region with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, two years ago, a working group from the Ministry of Health and Pfizer Company was formed to draft a non-binding draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) and to support Egypt's vision 2030 in the field of health care.

The MoU will include providing the best protection for future generations in line with international standards. It also stipulated the provision of meningococcal vaccine for adults and pneumococcal for children, which contributes to immunization of approximately 2.5 million children a year.

The non-binding memorandum also included areas of technology transfer to help find a way to localize the manufacturing process of multiple-dose pneumococcal vaccine in Egypt through technology transfer, which is one of the most complex innovative vaccinations in terms of manufacturing, in addition to the possibility of localizing more vaccine industries in Egypt.

Nawar also asked the company to provide some innovative financial solutions, through which the Egyptian government can help finance pneumococcal vaccines, and establish infrastructure in the health field.

On the other hand, Bloom praised Egypt's vision 2030, noting that Egypt is one of the few countries that works to implement a development program whose elements are consistent with the international goals of sustainable development.