Morocco has started a vaccination campaign and is thus a first on the African continent. First, in teaching hospitals in Casablanca, people working in the hospitals have been vaccinated with a Sinopharm vaccine, local media reported.
Moroccans can get vaccinated at about 3000 locations in their country. The procedure, including the vaccination, takes ten minutes to 15 minutes, according to the health authorities.
The North African country of about 37 million people has stocked up on doses of the vaccine from Oxford and AstraZeneca produced by the Indian Serum Institute and China’s Sinopharm. Morocco has ordered a total of 66 million doses of the two drugs.
The country would have approached this differently than some other developing countries, which, for example, are trying to regulate vaccines through the World Health Organization. The Moroccan government did business directly with the vaccine makers, according to an insider.
Morocco wants to vaccinate about 25 million people free of charge from now on, being the first people to work in health care, education, the security apparatus and vulnerable elderly. The country has also ordered vaccines elsewhere, and a private company may be making the Chinese vaccine in Morocco.