Egypt has received 33,678 coronavirus vaccine doses since the beginning of the inoculation campaign launched earlier this year. The doses are an amalgam of the Astrazeneca, Sinovac, Sinopharm, Sputnik, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, Minister of Health Hala Zayed said on Wednesday.
During a cabinet meeting, Zayed stated that from 18 to 24 September, 1.926 million doses of the locally produced Sinovac-VACSERA vaccine are scheduled to be distributed among the 830 vaccination centres nationwide, including those allocated for travellers.
The minister highlighted the ongoing preparations for receiving Pfizer doses in a number of governorates, in which the total storage capacity has reached 4.366 million after purchasing and locally distributing 600 refrigerators.
On 24 September, Egypt will receive its first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine – which needs special refrigerators to store vials at 2°C to 8°C – containing 612,000 jabs, as part of a total of 1.6 million doses, the health ministry spokesman said earlier in TV statements.
According to the health ministry, a shipment of more than one million doses of AstraZeneca will arrive at Cairo International Airport on Wednesday evening.
This is the third major shipment Egypt receives in less than a week. A shipment arrived in two batches consisting of 546,400 doses of AstraZeneca donated by France via COVAX last weekend, and 850,560 doses donated by Germany via COVAX, were received on Monday, according to the UNICEF.
"Together, we are reassured" mobile campaign
Zayed tackled the Ma'an Natmaen (Together, we are reassured) mobile campaign's success in helping 45,460 people register on the ministry's vaccination website since its launch on 16 September.
Covering 18 governorates, the mobile campaign's main objective is to spread awareness and help citizens register for the vaccine and be jabbed on the same day.
People who had previously registered on the ministry's website but did not receive text messages of their vaccination appointments can head to the campaign to receive immediate messages with the date and place of the vaccination, an earlier statement by the ministry read.
Egypt – which currently witnesses a steady rise in daily infections and deaths – has recently intensified its mass vaccination campaign to alleviate the repercussions of the ongoing fourth wave and to achieve its 40 million immunised individuals goal by the end of 2021.
The ministry is also working on vaccinating teachers, teaching staff, workers, employees, and students at universities and institutes against the coronavirus before the beginning of the academic year on 9 October.
So far, Egypt has detected a total of 298,296 cases, including 251,395 recoveries and 17,016 deaths.
According to the World Health Organisation , nearly 13 million vaccine doses have been administered in Egypt till 16 September.
