Booster shots to roll in as of next Saturday: Anyone eligible for a booster shot will be able, as of this coming Saturday, to make an appointment through the Health Ministry’s website to receive the shot, acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar told El Hekaya’s Amr Adib last night (watch, runtime: 14:42). At the outset, booster shots will only be available for senior citizens with chronic medical conditions and to medical staff.

Missed your appointment to get your second vaccine shot? No problem: Anyone who received their first shot of the vaccine and missed their appointment to get the second jab can, as of Thursday, visit the center where they received their first dose and get their second on the spot, Abdel Ghaffar said. As of now, a total of 31 mn individuals are either fully vaccinated or have received one dose of the jab, but around half have taken only one dose. The minister suggested that people are either unaware of the importance of completing the full vaccination or think they’ve missed their chance if they can’t make it on the predetermined day of the second dose.

We received another 600k doses of Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca on Saturday and are on track to receive a total of 3.9 mn AstraZeneca jabs by the end of this month, interim health minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said yesterday.

The Health Ministry reported 902 new covid-19 infections yesterday, up from 892 the day before. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 363,162 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 45 new deaths, bringing the country’s total death toll to 20,727.

UK tightens travel rules: Starting tomorrow, all travelers heading to the UK will be required to take a PCR test 48 hours before their flight, regardless of their vaccine status, the government announced Saturday.

Russia’s Sputnik jab is now on Saudi Arabia’s list of approved vaccines for tourists entering the kingdom, according to a statement from the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

South Africa is looking at introducing a vaccine mandate as Omicron drives a surge in covid cases, Axios says. President Cyril Ramaphosa has ruled out a return to lockdown and instead said in a televised address that the government is holding “consultations” to make vaccination mandatory for “specific activities and locations.” With 41% of adults now vaccinated, South Africa has one of the highest vaccination rates in Africa but still lags far behind developed countries.

New Moderna vaccines for Omicron could be widely available by 2Q2022, Moderna President Stephen Hoge told ABC News. Although the vaccine itself could be ready and distributed to tens of mns of people by 1Q2022, a “big step change” where hundreds of mns of doses would be available to the public would be unlikely before the second quarter of the year, he said. Hoge’s comments come a week after the pharma giant’s CEO Stéphane Bancel predicted that we’ll be needing new variant-specific vaccines, which he had also suggested would take months to produce at scale.