Sisi Asks to Offer Coronavirus Vaccine Free of Charge for Egyptians

Osama Heikal, Minister of State for Information, said Friday that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi had asked that the coronavirus vaccine should be given to Egyptians free.

Heikal said that the first shipments of the recently-obtained Chinese vaccine will be given to the most vulnerable groups, including doctors, medical staff at quarantine hospitals, the elderly, and some specific groups.

The Information minister stressed that Egypt is the first country in Africa to obtain the coronavirus vaccine, and the second Arab country to get it after the UAE.

He pointed out that Egypt got the vaccine before the European Union countries and the United States of America. 

“This reflects the government's success in its continuous efforts since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic,” Heikal added.

The minister noted that the concern for good and balanced relations with China, and Egypt's participation in the clinical trials of the vaccine, were among the most important reasons for obtaining the vaccine once it was approved.

He manifested that the Minister of Health, Hala Zayed, had personally undergone the initial clinical trials of the Chinese vaccine.

Heikal announced that this vaccine had obtained emergency approval from the World Health Organization (WHO), and that the scientific committee at the Ministry of Health agreed to use it after the success of its clinical trials.