Egypt has reserved enough of the candidate vaccine produced by American pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, to cover 20% of its needs, Minister of Health Hala Zayed said on Tuesday.
Zayed added that the ministry has also reserved enough of a vaccine that the UK’s Oxford University is working to produce, to cover 30% of the country’s COVID-19 vaccine needs.
The minister’s remarks came during her speech at a scientific conference on the role of central laboratories as part of the ministry’s plan to address the coronavirus. Zayed said that there are 11 potential vaccines in the final stages of trials, and that Egypt had participated in the clinical trials of two vaccines.
On Monday, the world witnessed a turning point in the global fight against the pandemic as Pfizer and BioNTech announced their vaccine candidate against the coronavirus. The vaccine has a proven effectiveness in preventing COVID-19 of over 90%, with protection achieved 28 days after the initiation of the two-dose scheduled vaccination.
The German company BioNTech conducted the research work behind the vaccine.
“The first interim analysis of our global Phase 3 study provides evidence that a vaccine may effectively prevent COVID-19,” according to Uğur Sahin, BioNTech co-founder and CEO, “When we embarked on this journey 10 months ago, this is what we aspired to achieve.”
Clinical trials were conducted on participants without evidence of prior infection of the virus in the first interim efficacy analysis. A total of 43,538 participants from six countries were enrolled in the clinical studies on the candidate vaccine, of which 42% had diverse backgrounds.
According to a Pfizer statement, the researchers noticed no serious safety concerns regarding the candidate vaccine.
“We will continue to collect further data, as the trial continues to enrol for a final analysis planned when a total of 164 confirmed COVID-19 cases have accrued,” Sahin said,
In light of the US claims that Washington had funded the milestone vaccine, the company said on Tuesday that “Pfizer didn’t receive any funding from Operation Warp Speed for the development, clinical trial and manufacturing of the vaccine. Rather, its partner, BioNTech SE, has received money from the German government.”
