Mohammed Abu Zaid

CAIRO: After the successful local production of the Chinese vaccine for coronavirus, Sinovac, Egyptian authorities are in talks with Moderna, the US pharmaceutical company to manufacture the vaccine in Egypt.

Khaled Mujahid, assistant minister of health and population and the official spokesman for the ministry, said a meeting was held between the Egyptian officials and Moderna to ensure its supply to the country to effec- tively fight the pandemic using different vaccines.

He said the meeting also discussed ways to manufacture Moderna vaccines in Egypt.

Mujahid said the Egyptian health minister wants to allocate a production line in the factories of the Vacsera Co. to manufacture Moderna vaccine locally.

Representatives of Moderna confirmed the company’s readiness to supply new batches of their vaccine to Egypt as well as providing the Egyptian authorities with updates on the development plan regarding the production of the Moderna vaccine.

Egypt intends to produce more than 1 billion doses annually of the Sinovac vaccine, according to Health Minister Hala Zayed, who added that Egypt would thus be “the largest producer of vaccines in Africa and the Middle East.”

Zayed said that under an agree- ment with the Chinese company that produces the Sinovac vaccine, two factories in Cairo will take over production. She pointed out that more than 200 million doses annually will be produced in one of the factories, which will cover local needs.

She added that 3 million doses per day, or about 1 billion doses annually will be produced in the second factory, which will allow export to African countries.