Egypt's Health Ministry: 47M people receive Covid-19 vaccine

CAIRO - 7 December 2021: Spokesman for the Health Ministry Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said that so far, 47 people have been fully vaccinated in Egypt.

In a phone interview with DMC channel on Monday, the spokesman said that the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines are "negligible", stressing the importance of receiving vaccines to reduce infection rates.

He further noted that more than 250,000 children have been vaccinated with coronavirus vaccines so far.

Booster vaccine doses will be available for people most at risk from COVID-19 who have had a 2nd dose of a vaccine at least 6 months ago, the spokesman noted.

The new Omicron variant of Covid-19 is not wildly different from any other variant, Presidential Adviser for Health and Prevention Affairs Mohamed Awad Tag Eddin said.

During a phone call with "Al-Hadath Al-Youm" satellite TV channel on Monday evening, Tag Eddin added that "there's no reason to panic over the new variant," which has not yet been found to be linked to severe Covid-19 illness.

"The fear and anxiety have gotten totally out of proportion," he said.

He indicated that "all vaccines are still effective against Covid," explaining that vaccine effectiveness may just wane by few percentage points in case of mutations or new variants, but they remain effective.

Tag Eddin added the 4th wave of the Covid outbreak is about to reach its peak in Egypt, noting that incidence and fatality rates may continue to rise over the next two or three weeks before they subside.

He also urged citizens to adhere to all anti-Covid precautions and get their vaccine shots, especially in light of the fact that Covid-19 and the seasonal flu share a lot of the same symptoms.