Cairo- Egypt will start the local production of the Chinese Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine next month, a senior official of the Ministry of Health and Population revealed.
There are plans for the production of 60 million doses of the vaccine in the course of this year, Mohamed Abdel Fattah, the head of the Central Administration for Preventive Medicine at the ministry, said late on Thursday.
He told the local news channel, Extra News, that a series of vaccination centres had already been launched around Egypt to speed up the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines to the largest number of people.
One of the centres is set up at the International Exhibition Grounds in Nasr City, eastern Cairo, the official said, adding that this centre comprises 96 clinics and a large number of medical teams.
The centre can serve 10,000 people per day from Cairo, Giza and Qalioubia, he added.
The start of local production of the Chinese vaccine comes as Egypt works to immunize the largest number of people against the new disease.
Over 900,000 people have registered to receive vaccines so far, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.
Around 700,000 people had already received the vaccine, including some who had taken their second jab, the ministry said a few days ago.
Local companies signed agreements for the local production of Sinovac vaccine and the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in late March.
Abdel Fattah called on the public to register for Covid-19 vaccines to help advance the national drive to immunize the public against the disease.
