Egypt to manufacture 60 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine

CAIRO – 6 May 2021: Egypt will manufacture up to 60 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine by next month according to Head of the Central Department of Preventive Medicine at the Ministry of Health.

He added that huge number of vaccination centers have been launched all around the country to provide the vaccine to all Egyptians.

He added that the vaccinations rate has increased during the past days, in conjunction with the third wave of COVID-19 in Egypt which caused a rising in the number of daily infections of the virus.

The Egyptian government recorded on Wednesday 1,102 cases, 876 recoveries, and 64 deaths.

As such, the total of each was brought up to 232,905; 174,217; and, 13,655, respectively.

The Ministry of Health and Population announced Saturday that 900,000 people have got vaccinated, and that more than 45 percent of hospitals' capacity is ready to receive COVID-19 patients.

Head of the Central Department of Preventive Affairs at the ministry Mohamed Abdel Fatah stated in a phone-in Saturday that 900,000 people out of two million who had registered for vaccination have got vaccinated.

The official added that the COVID-19 variation that appeared in India has not yet been detected in Egypt.

In another context, the ministry's Spokesperson Khaled Megahed noted that 45 percent of hospitals' beds have been allocated to receive COVID-19 patients. Dispelling worries given the recent rise in cases, he added that the strategic reserve of medical oxygen has reached 2.2 million liters.

Egypt’s Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) and Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac signed two agreements to manufacture the Sinovav vaccine.

VACSERA will manufacture the final product using the ready-made product provided by Sinovac.

Similarly, Egypt’s leading pharmaceutical company Minapharm said it would produce over 40 million doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine per year, as per an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).