Egypt received the shipment via the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) program, in cooperation with the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), Minister of Higher Education and Acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar said.

With receiving the Moderna shipment, Egypt has secured all types of coronavirus vaccines worldwide in accordance with political leadership's directives, Abdel-Ghaffar affirmed.

Abdel-Ghaffar added that Moderna vaccine received an emergency authorization use from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Egyptian Drugs Authority (EDA).

Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly issued a decree on Friday tasking Abdel-Ghaffar to serve as acting health minister until incumbent Minister Hala Zayed, who was admitted to hospital after suffering a heart attack, recovers.

On Saturday, Egypt received a total of 3,634,020 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine from the US via COVAX. It is considered the fourth and largest shipment of this vaccine to reach the country since late September.

According to health officials, around 25 million citizens have been vaccinated in Egypt nationwide so far.

The government has already set a goal to vaccinate 40 million citizens in the country by the end of 2021.

Egypt’s vaccination campaign currently uses various types of imported vaccines, including Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer, in addition to its locally-made Sinovac/VACSERA.