Minister of Health and Population Dr Hala Zayed said on Saturday that Egypt received the third shipment of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine at Cairo airport late Friday comprising 1.4 million doses offered by the US government through the COVAX initiative in cooperation with Gavi, the vaccine alliance.
US Ambassador Jonathan R. Cohen had said last week that the Pfizer vaccines are a direct donation from the people of the United States to the people of Egypt. “This is part of eight million Pfizer vaccine doses the United States is sending to Egypt.”
The shipments are part of 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses donated by the US to the African Union countries through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX).
Egypt’s first Pfizer vaccines shipment arrived in the country from the US in late September.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population Dr Khaled Megahed said the World Health Organization (WHO) had approved an emergency use for the two- shot Pfizer vaccine.
The vaccine shipment will undergo safety testing before being distributed among vaccination centers nationwide, according to him.
