A nurse shows a vial of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a mass immunization venue inside Cairo’s International Exhibition Center in Cairo, Egypt June 5, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Egypt received a new batch of about 1.7 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses through the global COVAX initiative, the health ministry said late on Friday.

The new shipment, the third of its kind, brings the total number of AstraZeneca shots received by Egypt via COVAX to about 4.3 million doses.

COVAX was established by the Geneva-based GAVI vaccine alliance and the World Health Organization (WHO) for the equitable distribution of vaccines.

Egypt has also received shipments of the Sputnik, Sinopharm, Sinovac and Johnson & Johnson shots. It also recently began locally producing Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccines.

The government said in June it aims to vaccinate 40% of the 100 million population by the end of this year.