10 Jun 2021

The Prime Minister has announced that Egypt will begin producing the Sinovac Covid vaccine next week. In a separate announcement, the Minister of Health and Population said that the locally-produced vaccine will be made available to citizens and residents within 6 weeks. The government’s plan is to produce around 40mn doses by the end of this year.

The government has allocated EGP750mn to fund the vaccine’s production process. Egypt aims to become a regional hub in Africa for the production of the vaccine, after fulfilling domestic needs. 40% of the total population of Egypt is expected to have been vaccinated by the end of this year. The Sinovac vaccine has received approval by the WHO (World Health Organization) for emergency use.

Furthermore, Egypt is currently in talks with the makers of the British AstraZeneca vaccine to manufacture that vaccine domestically as well. (Source: al-Ahram (English), Daily News Egypt (English), Egypt Today (English), al-Maal, Amwal al-Ghad)