The first batch of 15,000 doses of EvoShield, the combination of two long-acting antibodies (tixagevimab, cilgavimab) from AstraZeneca for pre-exposure prophylaxis to COVID-19, arrived at Cairo International Airport on Saturday, January 29.
Egypt is the first African country and the fourth country in the world to receive the drug “EvoShield”, and the arrival of the first batch of doses comes a few days after the drug obtained an emergency use permit for the purposes of preventing Covid-19 from the Egyptian Medicines Authority, and more doses are expected to arrive within the weeks The next project will be part of the supply agreement, which includes 50,000 doses in total, in 2022.
The Egyptian Medicines Authority had granted Evoshield an emergency use permit for pre-exposure prophylaxis for COVID-19 for adults and adolescents (over 12 years of age and weighing more than 40 kg) on January 16. The drug targets groups who suffer from moderate to severe weakening of immunity as a result of a health condition or who are taking immunosuppressive drugs.
In this context, Dr. Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population in Egypt, said: “The leadership’s directives were the main driver that made Egypt one of the first countries in the world to receive doses of the innovative drug “EvoShield” to protect the most vulnerable groups. The cooperation of the Ministry of Health and Population with AstraZeneca plays a pivotal role in our efforts to respond to the pandemic by providing the “AstraZeneca” vaccine against COVID-19.With the provision of EvoShield, we now have a greater ability to provide protection for immunocompromised patients.
About 2% of the world’s population suffers from the increased risks posed by the body’s inability to generate an adequate immune response to vaccination with the Covid-19 vaccine. This includes patients with leukemia and other types of cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy, dialysis patients, and those who take medications after organ transplants, or take immunosuppressive drugs for diseases such as multiple sclerosis and arthritis. Emerging evidence indicates the importance of protecting populations at risk from infection with COVID-19 to prevent the virus from developing, and this is an important factor behind the emergence of the mutant.