Egypt buys 20m doses of China covid vaccine

An Egyptian medical worker checks people’s temperatures on March 4, 2021 in Cairo [KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images]

Egypt has agreed to purchase 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by China’s Sinopharm and expects to receive a batch of 500,000 shots this month, Reuters reported its Ministry of Health said today.

The agreement boosts vaccination efforts in Egypt, which has a population of 101 million and has so far received a total of just over 1.5 million doses of Sinopharm and of the AstraZeneca shot.

Earlier this month, Egypt announced it was preparing to produce up to 80 million doses of the vaccine produced by China’s Sinovac.

Egypt is experiencing a third wave of coronavirus with calls for medical staff to be vaccinated and reports that in some governorates patients with the virus are being turned away because of a lack of capacity to treat them.

READ: Covid cases surge in Sohag Governorate, in Egypt. as medics turn patients away

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