Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has officially declared the commencement of the vaccination campaign, and told that medical staff will be first in line to get inoculated.

Egypt received the first delivery of vaccines developed by Sinopharm last December.

Last week, the country’s minister of health said that Egypt would be receiving 40 million doses through the International Vaccine Alliance, a sufficient amount to jab 20 million people, or 20 percent of Egypt’s population of 100 million.

The Ministry of Health and Population clarified that those who will receive the vaccine must be over the age of 18, and that pregnant women and children will not be receiving the vaccine.

The ministry also already set the times and places for the first group of vaccine recipients.

Minister of Health Hala Zayed will hold a press conference at the Abu Khalifa Isolation Hospital in Ismailia Governorate to officially announce the plans regarding vaccine distribution.

The ministry said that more than 36 centers in Egypt will be distributing the vaccine to citizens, with the first in line being medical staff in isolation, then chest and fever hospital patients, and then patients with chronic diseases and the elderly.

The ministry emphasized that the vaccines have been thoroughly tested and are safe, and have undergone analysis that proved the Sinopharm vaccine 86 percent effective. The ministry also added that the success of the vaccine in generating antibodies is 99 percent, and it is totally effective.

Vaccine recipients may experience symptoms like pain, stiffness, itching, high temperature, headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, muscle pain, joint pain and convulsive attacks.

These symptoms generally do not require specific medical attention and usually disappear without a prescription.