Mohammed Abu Zaid
CAIRO: Egypt has held talks with Chinese company Sinovac on boosting local production and development of vaccines, and the transfer of manufacturing technology.
Egypt’s acting health minister, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, and Sinovac’s director general, Zhao Quang, discussed ways to expand cooperation between Sinovac and the Egyptian Holding Co for Biological Products and Vaccines, also known as Vacsera.
The pair discussed the manufacture of vaccines for COVID-19, influenza and polio at Vacsera’s factories, with a view to making Egypt a center for the production of such products in Africa.
They also discussed a timeline for transferring Sinovac’s manufacturing technology to Vacsera’s factories in 2022 and the training requirements for Egyptian workers.
Egypt’s Health Minister Hala Zayed said earlier that the country planned to produce more than 1 billion doses of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine annually. She added that the move would make Egypt “the largest producer of vaccines in Africa and the Middle East.”
Two factories in Cairo will handle vaccine production to cover local needs and exports to other African nations. Vacsera plans to expand its complex to include cold-storage facilities for 150 million doses of vaccines, and the handling of raw materials.
Zhao confirmed Sinovac’s keenness to work with Egypt, stressing the need to accelerate the transfer of manufacturing technology and praising Vacsera’s capabilities.
