The Egyptian Health and Population Ministry announced Friday that a contract is now underway with a new company to locally manufacture COVID-19 vaccines in Egypt.
According to the ministry’s statement, the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) will be a strong arm for Egypt to achieve self-sufficiency in vaccine production.
The ministry added that Egypt has two factories for the production of vaccines affiliated with VACSERA; one in Agouza and another being completed in the 6th of October City.
The Agouza factory has production lines that were inspected by a delegation from the World Health Organization two months ago, the statement said, adding the delegation looked over the production lines, their capacity and efficiency before production.
“When we signed the agreement with the Chinese company Sinovac, a delegation of Chinese experts visited us, and they have been with us for 45 days to supervise the manufacturing process,” the statement continued.
The statement indicated that 300,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine were produced, while the factory’s production capacity ranged from 110 to 220 million doses annually.
It noted that the 6th of October City’s factory is very large, with a production capacity of three million doses per day.
The Egyptian Health and Population Ministry said on Wednesday that starting from August, 15 million doses of the Sinovac-VACSERA vaccine will be produced locally per month.
The ministry noted that it aims to manufacture 40 million doses of the vaccine by the end of this year.
The ministry said that the Egyptian government signed an agreement with the Chinese company Sinovac to manufacture 40 million doses annually, and agreed to increase it within six months to 80 million doses.
Egypt’s Health Ministry on Friday confirmed 198 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s total confirmed cases up to 281,722.
The total number of COVID-19-related deaths has now reached 16,215 nationwide, after the ministry announced 21 deaths.
And 666 patients were discharged from quarantine at isolation hospitals, raising Egypt’s total number of fully-recovered cases to 212,725.
