Minister of Health Hala Zayed said on Sunday that citizens will be able to begin registration to receive the coronavirus vaccine starting next week, beginning the next step in the country’s vaccination campaign.

Zayed affirmed in a press conference that priority, according to the government's previously announced vaccination plan, will be given to the elderly and those suffering from chronic diseases.

The health ministry launched a website earlier this year for citizens to reserve doses of a coronavirus vaccine. Those who register on the website will receive a text message indicating the time and location for receiving the vaccine.

Egypt started its coronavirus vaccination campaign in late January by vaccinating medical workers at quarantine hospitals using the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.

During the press conference, Zayed said Egypt will also receive a “big” shipment of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccines within hours as a gift from China.

Zayed also announced that Egypt will also receive later this month a total of 8.6 million vaccine doses developed by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical, AstraZeneca.

Egypt officially received the first batch of 50,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine in December as a gift from the UAE.

China pledged to supply Egypt soon with 300,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses.

In January, Egypt also received the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccine doses from the Global Vaccine Alliance and Immunisations (GAVI).

Zayed added on Sunday the country is set to receive a total of 40 million vaccine doses from GAVI during the course of 2021.

Zayed also announced during the conference that no unexpected side effects have been recorded so far after the first shots of the vaccine were administered to doctors and health workers.

She added that some healthcare workers are currently taking the second shot.

Zayed said the ministry has designated sites in all 27 governorates for citizens to get the vaccine, stressing that the ministry would follow up on citizens’ health status after they receive the vaccine.

Speaking during the conference, Hossam Hosny, the head of the Scientific Committee to Combat Coronavirus at the Ministry of Health, said four treatment protocols have been adopted since Egypt reported its first coronavirus infection.

Hosny noted that the committee has been developing protocols to benefit from the latest developments in the field.

The committee will continue to use the latest protocol, adopted last November, after seeing successful results, Hosny said.

He noted that some drugs will be added after proving their efficiency recently without naming them.