Egypt to locally produce 2m doses of China’s Sinovac jab

Egypt to locally produce 2m doses of China’s Sinovac jab

CAIRO: Egypt received on Friday the first batch of components to locally produce 2 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine. According to the country’s health ministry, the delivery includes 1,400 liters of vaccine components as part of the agreement signed between Sinovac and the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA). The country is expected to manufacture 40 million Sinovac doses in the first year of production, health authorities said. As part of Egypt’s efforts to urgently ramp up vaccination efforts, the delivery to Cairo also included 500,000 ready-to-use doses of Sinopharm. Hala Zayed, Egypt’s health minister, said that manufacturing coronavirus vaccines is a “historic step” for Egypt, adding that surplus vaccine supplies will be exported. The minister said that 2 million doses of Sinovac will be delivered to vaccination centers across Egypt within a two-month period. The vaccine production process begins with tests to analyze raw components in health ministry laboratories, followed by packaging and quality control, she added. The China-Egypt vaccine agreement covers the transfer of production and manufacturing technology to enable Egypt to produce raw components locally in the future. Egyptian authorities aim to produce coronavirus vaccines 100 percent domestically, Zayed said, adding that more