Morocco presses ahead with vaccine campaign preparations

In implementation of Royal guidelines to roll out coronavirus vaccine for all, head of the government Saad Eddine El Othmani said that preparations are underway and the safety and health of citizens is a priority.

“Our country’s choice for a vaccine is based on the criteria of safety and efficiency,” said El Othmani at the weekly cabinet meeting held Thursday.

The trials have shown the vaccine to be adopted by Morocco to be safe and efficient, he said, adding that Morocco works in close cooperation with the World Health Organization to that end.

Morocco had taken part in trials for the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine and has ordered doses of the R-Pharm vaccine developed under a contract from the UK’s AstraZenica, which produced a vaccine in collaboration with Oxford University.

El Othmani also called for vigilance regarding the spread of fake news to dissuade people from vaccination.

He said an awareness raising campaign will be launched soon to elucidate the different aspects relating to the vaccine and its importance for the return to normalcy.

This comes as Morocco faces an upsurge in infections with a new daily record registered on November 12 after 6195 new cases were found.

Up to November 12, Morocco had a total of 276,821 cases, including 4500 deaths and 226,000 recoveries.