Egypt's Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said on Thursday that EGP 1 billion have been allocated to the health ministry in order to acquire coronavirus vaccines. “The financial allocations to the health ministry are an open budget and EGP 1 billion have been transferred already to the ministry to deal with the coronavirus and buy medical supplies,” Maait told Extra News TV channel. “We are waiting for the final bill in order to buy vaccines for 100 million Egyptians,” he added. Egypt is expected to receive a shipment of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine within two to three weeks from the Global Vaccine Alliance and Immunisations (GAVI). According to the Ministry of Health, GAVI would provide Egypt with 20 percent of its needs according to an agreement reached in November. Egypt's Drug Authority has already approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine on 2 January, almost three weeks after receiving the first batch. The inoculations have not started yet, despite allocating 34 centres nationwide for vaccination. Aside from open budget allocations, the Ministry of Health signed a cooperation protocol on Tuesday with Tahya Misr fund and Talaat Mostafa Development Group from the private sector to provide COVID-19 vaccines for 2 million people.
