Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Wednesday that Egypt is going to produce 40 million COVID-19 vaccine doses locally in six months. In a video conference meeting with Germany's State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of Health Sabine Weiss, Zayed stated that Egypt is producing 100% of the COVID-19 treatment protocol medications locally. The two ministers discussed the latest developments of Coronavirus in Egypt, where Minister Hala Zayed shared that Egypt has a low rate of infections despite its large population. She also noted that despite having three waves of the Coronavirus pandemic, the highest single-day tally of cases has never exceeded 1,700 in Egypt. Zayed and Weiss discussed ways to boost medical cooperation between the two countries, especially between the German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention, the Robert Koch Institute, and the Egyptian Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Egypt is currently manufacturing two million doses of the Sinovac vaccine through the production lines of the country's drugmaker VACSERA as part of a wider deal with the Chinese company to produce a total of 40 million doses by the end of 2021. The local production of the Sinovac vaccine was approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for emergency use on 1 June and by the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) in April. Egypt's aim is to become a vaccine manufacturing hub for Africa, after meeting local needs. Egypt is also in talks to locally manufacture the British AstraZeneca vaccine, according to previous statements by Health Minister Hala Zayed.
