Vaccination will be mandatory in all governmental institutions in Egypt soon, said Presidential Adviser for Health Dr. Awad Tag El-Din on Monday.

“University students and staff are going to be vaccinated. Vaccination will also be mandatory to work in governmental institutions; and soon, even some private institutions will not deal with someone who is not vaccinated,” Tag El-Din said in statements to TV show “Al-Hayat Al-Youm” on Al-Hayat TV channel. 

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced earlier on Monday that, upon President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s directives, the government is prioritising vaccinating university and school staff and students ahead of the new academic year.

He also stated that citizens’ hesitance towards being vaccinated has declined significantly recently, adding that the percentage of vaccinated individuals in the world increases every day.

Tag El-Din’s statements come after his meeting with President El-Sisi and Minister of Health Hala Zayed, as well as other health sector officials, to discuss the pandemic’s latest developments in Egypt along with other health-related issues of concern.

According to the presidential adviser, the meeting addressed the government’s efforts to acquire the patents of coronavirus vaccines for local manufacturing, Egyptian women’s health, and updates on health-related presidential initiatives.

Earlier, the government announced that Egypt seeks to inoculate 800,000 people per day to increase the number of vaccinated citizens against the coronavirus to 35.353 million in an average of 88 days.

The government has set a goal to vaccinate 40 million citizens by the end of the year using the AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sinovac, Sputnik V, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines it has imported.

Egypt received its first shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this month, comprising 261,600 doses.

Zayed said last week that 700,000 doses of the American vaccine will be administered to the public in the coming period.

Egypt also received on Friday night 1,766,400 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from COVAX.

This is the third of several shipments of a total of 40 million doses to be provided to Egypt under the COVAX initiative, according to the health ministry.

Egypt also plans to produce millions of Sinovac and Sputnik shots annually to cover local and African needs.