Egypt is currently considering giving booster shots of coronavirus vaccines to citizens who were inoculated at least 6-8 months ago.
The third shot would be given before the end of the year, but the country is now prioritizing those who haven’t received the first dose, Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said in a TV interview on Sunday.
Egypt has been working on increasing its capacity to manufacture local coronavirus vaccines.
Egypt has produced two million shots of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine through the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) whose manufacturing capacity reaches up to 15 million doses monthly.
The manufacturing of the Sinovac doses is part of an agreement signed between VACSERA and the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac.
Tens of shipments comprising millions of the Sinopharm, Sinovac, Sputnik, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have arrived in Egypt since the beginning of the country’s vaccination campaign in January.
The country targets to inoculate 40 million citizens by the end of 2021.
Zayed confirmed that 10 million Egyptians had been vaccinated against coronavirus, including three million fully vaccinated citizens.
Egypt, which has recorded a total of 289,684 cases and 16,776 deaths, is currently ramping up efforts to vaccinate as many people as possible as the peak of the fourth coronavirus wave is expected late in September and early October.
The Egyptian government has announced that vaccination against coronavirus will be mandatory in the education sector, but the health minister said, without determining a certain date, that the government will announce that public servants will not be allowed into workplaces without being vaccinated.
The step comes as the academic year is scheduled to begin in October with full in-person attendance.
Source: Al-Ahram Online
