Vaccination against coronavirus will be mandatory for students, staff, employees and workers aged 18 or above who are involved in pre-university or university sectors in Egypt, the cabinet said on Saturday. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi last week ordered setting an executive plan to vaccinate teachers, teaching staff, workers, employees and students at universities and institutes before the beginning of the academic year.
This includes school students who are above 18 years of age as well as school staff and workers in public, private and international schools, Cabinet Spokesman Nader Saad told the Al-Hayah Al-Youm TV program.
The mandatory vaccination will also be applied to students of public and private universities, Saad added.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly will issue a decision in regard to those who refuse to take the vaccine in the educational sector, Saad said.
Egypt had applied the mandatory coronavirus vaccination requirement to those working in the tourism sector in the Red Sea and South Sinai resort cities, Saad said, adding that this has had positive impact on encouraging the return of foreign tourism to the country.
Last week, Presidential Adviser for Health Awad Tag El-Din told Al-Hayah Al-Youm that vaccination will be mandatory in all governmental institutions in Egypt soon.
He added that soon, even some private institutions will not deal with unvaccinated people.
In a meeting with Health Minister Hala Zayed last Monday, PM Madbouly noted that the government is prioritising the vaccination of teaching staff, workers, employees and students at universities and institutes.
Zayed said vaccination facilities at university hospitals originally allocated to vaccinate medical staff will be committed to vaccinate university workers too, a Cabinet statement read.
Each institute and research centre will also establish its own vaccination clinic, Zayed added.
The health ministry will provide these vaccination facilities with medical staff, devices required for vaccination registration, and sufficient vaccine shots, Zayed said.
These vaccination facilities will be committed to administer the second shot to higher education staff before the beginning of the academic year, the minister added.
University hospitals will be tasked with vaccinating higher education students during the medical examination ahead of their first school year, according to Zayed.
These hospitals will also be assigned to schedule the vaccination of university students in higher grades, she noted.
School staff will be able to register on the health ministry's vaccination website under a new category named "workers at the education ministry," the statement cited Zayed as saying.
The Ministry of Education will inform its employees to register on the website before 7 September, Zayed said. The health ministry will then send them messages with the dates to receive the two vaccine shots before the beginning of the academic year.
