Egypt prepared to manufacture, ship vaccines to Africa and MENA, Zayed

Egypt is prepared to manufacture and ship vaccines to Africa and the Middle East, and is willing to share its e-system for tracking vaccine recipients with countries that cannot develop their own, Health Minister Hala Zayed said during a meeting of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union.

Zayed also said Egypt would seek to join the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), which aims to boost African countries’ ability to produce and distribute vaccines across the continent.

The Madbouly government hopes to begin a national vaccine rollout in early February, starting with the most at-risk groups.

The AVATT initiative aims to accelerate African participation in the vaccine’s clinical development, overcome all financing-linked challenges to provide vaccines to eligible groups and support African countries’ capacities to produce and distribute the vaccine among citizens.

She highlighted the importance of cooperation among all African countries to bolster the maximum benefit from the initiative.

Egypt has participated with other world countries in clinical trials as part of a research package into the clinical trial in its third phase of the emerging coronavirus vaccine in cooperation with the Chinese government and the UAE G42 Healthcare Company, the minister stated.

She said partnership among countries had become a reason for creating one of the virus’s effective vaccines, calling for solidarity among all countries of the African continent at this difficult time to overcome the crisis.

Zayed further pointed to the importance of maximizing the benefit from the African Medicine Agency Treaty, saying that it allows African countries to use emergency registration of vaccines, adopt a policy of optimal use of vaccines, move vaccine surpluses to the countries in need the most and exchange expertise among countries in this field.