Egypt Approves Sinopharm Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine for Emergency Use

Egyptians Will Soon Receive Vaccine Injections

Egypt’s Minister of Health has announced legislative approval for the emergency use of the Chinese Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine. Hala Zayed said: “We have obtained the approval of the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) for an emergency license to use the Sinopharm vaccine.”

She indicated that the vaccine would start to be distributed to medical staff in the second week of January.

She also said Egypt would obtain the British AstraZeneca vaccine through the Vaxira company of the Egyptian Ministry of Health, and that Britain has granted approval to supply Egypt with it.

Only four and not seven in-patients passed away from the new strain of COVID-19 at Huseyni Pandemic Hospital in Sharjah — according to a statement issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Health which also refuted allegations that the cause of death was due to negligence resulting in insufficient oxygen in cylinders connected to the patient's ventilators.

Good to Go and Good for the Public

The minister said that the batch went through four tests conducted by the EDA and they all proved the safety of the vaccine.

The vaccine is expected to be administered to citizens in late January as per the mutual cooperation agreement signed on December 31.

Ongoing Pandemic Support

In its second wave, Egypt saw the biggest spike last week with 80% more new infections than the previous week reporting just over 140,878 Covid-19 cases with under 7,741 deaths — according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Since the onset of the global health crisis, Egypt and China have been cooperating closely in the fight against the pandemic through medical aid and expertise exchanges.