Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and Acting Minister of Health and Population, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, has met with Director General of the Chinese company Sinovac, Zhao Quang, to discuss enhancing cooperation in the production and development of COVID-19 vaccines.
The meeting dealt with the plan to expand cooperation between the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) and the Chinese company “Sinovac”, a leading manufacturer of vaccines and biological preparations, in the production of vaccines for; Coronavirus, influenza serum, and polio, at VACSERA complex of factories in the 6th of October City.
Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Health stated that the minister was briefed on the company’s plan regarding the development of the “Sinovac” vaccine, to confront the new mutant of the Coronavirus, especially the variant “Omicron”, which contributes to strengthening the immunity of citizens and protecting them.
Abdel Ghaffar added that the minister was briefed on the company’s plan to establish cold rooms to preserve vaccines at the VACSERA factory complex, with a fully-automatic system, with a storage capacity of 150 million doses of the final product of vaccines, in addition to establishing rooms dedicated to preserving raw materials.
He added that the minister discussed with the Chinese delegation the timeline for transferring the technology for manufacturing the “Sinovac” vaccine to VACSERA factories during 2022, and the start of training the teams working in the company on the stages and techniques of manufacturing raw materials for the vaccine.