Egypt on Monday placed a ban on public sector employees entering their offices if they are unvaccinated and untested for COVID-19 as the government pushes to accelerate vaccination rates in the final weeks of the year.
According to government rules, public university students are also barred from campuses if not vaccinated, those public employees who are unvaccinated need to submit a PCR test weekly.
Public sector employees disclosed that the rule was being enforced in at least some offices on Monday. Some employees were scrambling to get vaccines in order to report for work though others were still working from home
Queues formed at entrances to some state universities and government entities as students and employees waited to show proof of vaccination.
Acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said on Saturday that more than 14 million people in Egypt have had two vaccine doses and nearly 27 million have had one. The government has set a target of vaccinating 40% of Egypt’s population of just over 100 million by the end of this year.
According to official statements, from Dec. 1, members of the public will be unable to enter government offices without proof of at least one vaccine dose
The Finance Ministry on Monday that there was an “open budget” for combating COVID-19 and expanding vaccinations.
Egypt has received millions of vaccines through the global COVAX facility and bilateral donations and is assembling China’s Sinovac vaccine locally. On Sunday the government said it was starting clinical trials on an Egypt-developed vaccine named Covi Vax.