Al Monitor, by Amr Imam (excerpt: Egypt gearing up for mass Covid-19 immunization)
Egypt is gearing up to start a mass coronavirus vaccination campaign, after receiving two shipments of about 100,000 doses of a Chinese vaccine.
Muslim worshippers wait outside Al-Azhar Mosque as they arrive to perform the Friday prayers under new coronavirus pandemic restrictions, Cairo, Egypt, Aug. 28, 2020. Photo by Mohamed El-Shaded/AFP via Getty Images.Dec 17, 2020
CAIRO — Egypt is preparing for the largest vaccination campaign in its history; the populous Arab country has already received two shipments of a COVID-19 vaccine developed in China.
The shipments, which came from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Dec. 10 and Dec. 15, contained 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine. Other shipments of the same vaccine will arrive one after another, the Ministry of Health said.
Doses within the first and second shipments will be distributed to front-line health-care workers, especially those at the nation's isolation hospitals, the ministry noted.
“These people are the first line of defense against the disease,” Magdi Morshid, member of the Committee on Health at the House of Deputies (lower chamber of parliament), told Al-Monitor. “This is why they must be a top priority for the vaccination campaign.”
The Ministry of Health said subsequent shipments of the vaccine will be given to senior citizens, especially those suffering from chronic diseases. Other members of the public will get the vaccine later, but they have to book their spot on a website to be launched by health authorities soon.
On Dec. 11, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the vaccines to be given to the members of the public at no cost.
With a population of 100 million, Egypt needs a huge number of vaccine doses, assuming that all members of the public will want to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Egypt has already ordered 20 million vaccine doses from American multinational pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Sisi expects these vaccines to arrive by mid-2021.
The health authorities are also exploring other options and preparing to get vaccines from other sources, according to Mohamed Awad Tageddine, the president's adviser for health affairs and prevention.
He said at a Dec. 15 press conference that the National Research Center, the main research agency in the country, is also working on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. The center, he said, would make an announcement about the vaccine when it reaches tangible results.
Health specialists point out the efforts recently made by the health authorities in order to ensure the efficacy of the vaccines that would be given to the members of the public.
“This especially applies to the Chinese vaccine,” Nagwa al-Shafie, a board member of the Medical Association, the independent union of the nation's medical doctors, told Al-Monitor.
Egypt participated in the clinical trials of Sinopharm, along with another Chinese vaccine. Minister of Health Hala Zayed volunteered in the trials.
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