Morocco has acquired 65 million doses of coronavirus vaccines from China and the UK as it plans to vaccinate 80 percent of its adult population.
Moroccan officials said China’s Sinopharm and UK’s AstraZeneca vaccines will be used as the country prepares to launch its COVID-19 vaccination program, The Associated Press reported Friday.
Health Minister Khalid Ait Taleb first made the announcement during a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The country has not yet received the vaccines, the health ministry said Friday.
Regulators are reviewing the documentation of the Sinopharm vaccine and that vaccination program is expected to start in the coming days, Mustapha Ennaji Moulay, head of the virology department at Hassan II University in Casablanca and a member of the COVID-19 scientific committee, said from the government. the AP.
Morocco aims to vaccinate 25 million of the country’s 36 million people for free on the orders of King Mohammed VI, AP reported. The country will first administer vaccines to medical personnel, government agencies, security services, education workers and people suffering from chronic illnesses.
Morocco has reported the second highest number of coronavirus cases in Africa, after South Africa. Morocco has reported 428,000 cases and more than 7,000 deaths, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.