The UK has delivered 299,700 doses of
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Egypt as part of its efforts to
ensure the most vulnerable are vaccinated.
The package donated by the UK was shipped via COVAX, with the
support of UNICEF and WHO, and arrived in Cairo yesterday (16
August). This is part of the first tranche of the 100 million
vaccines that the British Prime Minister pledged the UK would share by June 2022 at the G7
Summit in Cornwall, with 30 million due to be sent by the end of
the year. At least 80 million of the 100 million doses will go to
COVAX.
This donation follows the recent COVAX shipment of 1.7 million
doses, which the UK is also supporting. The UK was at the
forefront of efforts to establish COVAX in 2020, and has provided
a total of £548 million to fund vaccines for lower income
countries. The scheme has delivered more than 152 million vaccine
doses to over 137 countries and territories, including in 83
lower-middle income countries.
This package, and the UK’s wider support to COVAX, will help meet
the need for vaccines in Egypt as the country continues to battle
with Covid-19.
The British chargé d’affaires and Deputy Ambassador to Egypt,
Qudsi Rasheed, said:
Yesterday, the UK sent around 300,000 vaccines to Egypt,
through COVAX, the first batch of the 100 million doses our
Prime Minister has pledged we will share with countries around
the world within the next year. This is another milestone in
our partnership with Egypt to help support the government’s
response to the Covid-19 pandemic and part of the UK’s goal to
end the pandemic by 2022.
Dr. Naeema Al Gasseer hailed on the solidarity of UK government’s
commitment to protect populations beyond UK and as WHO we
appreciate the efforts of the United Kingdom in addition to the
national efforts to scale up the vaccine intake by all, ensuring
that the largest number of people around the world is covered
with COVID-19 vaccines since nobody is safe unless everybody is
safe.
UNICEF Representative in Egypt, Mr. Jeremy Hopkins said:
I would like to express our thanks to the UK government for
their contribution. The close collaboration between the UK
Government as well as our Government partners is critical to
ensure we deliver vaccines at speed and protect as many people
as possible against this virus. No one is safe until everyone
is safe.
The UK has been at the forefront of the global response to
Covid-19, including through investing £90 million to support the
development of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Over half a billion doses
of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have been delivered at a
non-profit price globally, with two-thirds going to lower- and
middle-income countries. Global vaccine demand is far
outstripping supply, leaving millions of the most vulnerable
unprotected, while higher vaccine coverage worldwide is one of
the best shields against new variants.
