Egypt’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) and the Dutch company Bilthoven to transfer the technology of manufacturing the injectable polio vaccine.
The signing took place on the sidelines of the second edition of the Global Congress on Population, Health and Human Development 2024, held under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, with the slogan “Human Development: For a Sustainable Future.”
Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population, explained that Bilthoven is one of the leading Dutch companies in the field of transferring vaccine manufacturing technology, and this is the first time the company has transferred vaccine manufacturing technology outside Europe, in addition to the company providing all means of support in the steps of qualifying the vaccine to comply with good manufacturing conditions to ensure quality.
Abdel Ghaffar pointed out that this agreement secured the transfer of technology in the final stages of manufacturing, indicating that Egypt would produce 60-65% of its injectable polio vaccine, and may export to other African countries.
Sherif Al-Feel, Managing Director of the Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA), said that the injectable polio vaccine is one of the vaccines used to keep Egypt free of polio, adding that signing the cooperation agreement is a step towards localizing the vaccine industry and achieving self-sufficiency in the injectable polio vaccine, with the possibility of exporting the product to African countries.