- Egypt recorded more than 140,000 coronavirus cases since March 2020.
- The 1st batch of vaccine was potentially delivered in December, with remaining doses anticipated to commence this month.
The news of vaccines rollout comes as a ray of hope amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation for almost all countries. Along similar lines, the Government of Egypt has recently announced approval of the use of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm-Sinopharm.
The Arab country is all set to begin the vaccine rollout later in January 2021. With more than 140,000 Covid-19 cases, the announcement of rolling out a vaccine comes out to be quite comforting for the citizens of Egypt.
As per reliable sources, the first batch of the vaccine was delivered in December, with further doses expected by the month end. Each batch of the vaccine is anticipated to consist of about 50,000 doses, and according to the ministry of health, the first group of vaccines would be reserved for the medical workers and frontline warriors.
Hala Zayed, the Health Minister of Egypt, stated that the Egyptian pharmaceutical authority had reportedly declared giving a green flag to the use of Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine. She added that the country has laid down its plans of purchasing over 40 million doses of the Sinopharm jab.
Meanwhile, sources close to Sinopharm announced that one of its COVID-19 vaccines, which is to be distributed in China, was about 79% effective in combating the coronavirus infection. That said, it has been observed that the jabs efficiency is relatively lower than that of vaccines developed by Pfizer- Moderna and BioNTech- both of which are over 90% effective.
Alongside Pfizer, jab developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, boasts of the 70% effectiveness with one dose, and 100% effectiveness with two. Looking into this, the Egypt government is also looking forward to receiving AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine in the 3rd or 4th week of January, once the contract is finalized.
Source Credit: https://www.livemint.com/news/world/egypt-approves-chinese-sinopharm-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-in-late-january-11609668571133.html