CAIRO — Egypt received a shipment of more than 850,000 COVID-19 vaccine via the global COVAX initiative, the U.N. and Egyptian health officials said.

A plane carrying 854,400 doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine landed in Cairo early Thursday as Egypt moves forward with its vaccination campaign. The new doses will be used to inoculate health workers, elders and people with chronic diseases, said a U.N. statement.

This is the first shipment that Egypt receives via COVAX, an international alliance initiative to distribute vaccines to middle-and low-income countries.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country with over 100 million people, has reported 202,131 confirmed cases of coronavirus and nearly 12,000 confirmed deaths.

Undersecretary of Egypt’s Health Ministry Mohamed Hassany says Egypt has received 600,000 doses of the Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm’s vaccine as a gift from the Chinese government. The United Arab Emirates government has given Egypt 80,000 doses of the same vaccine.

Health Minister Hala Zayed saysthe Egyptian government has reserved 100 million vaccine doses, including 40 million doses from COVAX.