Egypt receives 1.5 million doses of coronavirus Pfizer vaccine from US

Amr Kandil , Sunday 26 Dec 2021

Egypt received a shipment of 1.5 million doses of coronavirus Pfizer vaccine as a donation from the United States on Saturday through COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), the US Embassy in Cairo announced.

Pfizer
An Egyptian medical worker administers a dose of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine . AFP

This delivery of the shipment means the US “has now donated 15 million doses of coronavirus  vaccines to the people of Egypt to help protect Egyptians from the virus and prevent the spread of its dangerous new strains,” the embassy said in a statement.

Since August, Egypt has received shipments comprising millions of the US-made Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer jabs.

Egypt has reported a total of 380,520 coronavirus cases and 21,571 related deaths since the emergence of the virus in the country in February 2020, with the country experiencing a fourth coronavirus wave since August.

Earlier in September, the Egyptian health ministry announced detecting the country’s first three cases of the new coronavirus highly transmissible variant Omicron in Egyptian nationals who had returned from abroad at Cairo International Airport and ordered their isolation.

“The emergence of Omicron variant places even greater importance on our working together, as strategic partners, to overcome the pandemic,” the US embassy added.

The Pfizer doses will be handed to the Egyptian health ministry’s facilities in Cairo before being distributed across the country to be administered, the embassy said.

The US government, through United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has granted Egypt $55 million to support the country’s coronavirus response, reaching nearly 18 million people, the embassy added.

Egypt received its first Pfizer vaccine shipment from the US in late September. The latest shipment raises the total of Pfizer doses in Egypt to roughly more than 13.6 million doses, according to calculations.

The shipments are part of 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses donated by the US to the African Union countries through COVAX.

Egypt has allocated the Pfizer doses especially for the travelers for studying or work purpose, medial staff, and children between 12 to 18 years of age.

Egypt has imported 116.8 million doses of the Sinopharm, Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, Acting Minister of Health Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar said on Thursday.

Egypt has so far administered 53.8 million coronavirus jabs with 20 million citizens being fully immunised and 33.8 million others partially vaccinated, Abdel-Ghaffar added.

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