Egypt’s health minister on Monday praised the Chinese coronavirus vaccine Sinopharm, after the Arab country received a 300,000-dose shipment of the shot as a donation from China.
https://www.africanews.com/embed/1434046
“Scientifically, it is considered one of the strongest vaccines,” Hala Zayed said.
Egypt is among dozens of nations depending on China to help rescue them from the COVID-19 pandemic, part of Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy campaign that has been a surprising success.
Zayed told reporters Egypt was working with the Chinese government to become a manufacturer of the vaccine to meet supply and home and in other African countries.
Egypt had previously received 350,000 doses of the Sinopharm jab as well as a shipment of 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca shot.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said last month his country needs at least 70 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to inoculate 30-35 million people.
Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country with over 100 million people, has reported more than 195,418 confirmed cases of coronavirus, including 11,598 deaths, according to a widely used tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The actual number of COVID-19 cases, like elsewhere in the world, is thought to be far higher, in part due to limited testing.