Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Friday doses of China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine will be immediately produced at the factories of Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA).

Zayed’s remarks came during her reception of 1,400 Kilograms of raw materials needed to locally manufacture two million doses of Sinovac and 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine.

Within two months, two million shots will be administrated at the vaccination centers nationwide, Zayed noted, pointing out that about 40 million shots are set to be produced in the coming period.

Egypt will be one of the first African countries which manufacture vaccines, the minister stated, pointing to exporting the surplus to the African countries after meeting the local needs.

The minister congratulated President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli on this historical step, thanking the Chinese government for helping Egypt to reach this major step.

She noted that the inked agreement with the Chinese side includes transferring the production technology to enable Egypt to produce the raw materials in the future.

Egypt is about to finish the second VACSERA factory in the 6th of October city to expand in producing the vaccines.

About 1.9 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine are set to arrive in Egypt as a part of the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) in addition to one million doses of Sinovac, set to be received in June.

Currently, Egypt received three million shots of Sinopharm, including 1.5 million shots as a gift from China, the minister added.

About 95% of the tourism sector’s staff had received the vaccine, the minister said, pointing out that all the prisoners are set to be vaccinated in the next period in cooperation with the Interior Ministry.

Source: State Information Service Egypt