CAIRO: Egypt has finished manufacturing 5 million doses of coronavirus vaccine – 2.5 million of which will be released this week.
Health Minister Hala Zayed said an additional production line is being prepared at the Giza plant, which will be operational in November. It will have a capacity of 300,000 doses per day.
Around 17 million doses of AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sputnik, and Pfizer vaccines were supplied and distributed by the health ministry in September.
Five million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine were donated, as well as 100,000 to 250,000 doses AstraZeneca.
The ministry worked with local governorates to deliver the vaccines, as the government scrambles to speed up vaccinations in the country of 100.4 million people.
Zayed said 13 million citizens have been vaccinated so far – 584,000 of whom got the jab for travel purposes.
The minister reviewed the country’s capacity to attend to COVID-19 patients, saying around 3.380 million liters of oxygen are still in stock.
She also reviewed facilities and equipment of central care hospitals, as well as efforts to expand them.
