COVID-19 vaccination: Morocco, hailed as the Champion in North Africa

International media continue to praise Morocco for its successful vaccination campaign that outperforms many European countries, describing the Kingdom as the champion in North Africa.

While Germany and other European countries slide through the second wave in lockdown, Morocco is well on the way to vaccinate itself out of the crisis, writes the German Die Welt paper.

In an article by its correspondent in Tangier Alfred Hackensberger, the daily highlighted Morocco’s “exemplary management of the vaccination campaign” against the Covid-19 virus, stressing that the Kingdom has overtaken Germany in terms of vaccination.

The author noted, with supporting figures, that Morocco administered an average of 173,920 doses per day against only 126,806 doses in Germany.

“Now Morocco is a big step ahead of Europe. Once again, this has to be said, because the kingdom did a lot better than its European neighbors during the pandemic.”

The journalist who visited the King Fahd Health Center in Tangier, among others, spoke admiringly of the whole organization of the immunization process, the great rush of citizens to the vaccination centers, and the perfect handling of the medical staff.

“One SMS is enough and a few seconds later, the sender will receive a vaccination appointment,” he stated, noting that while Europe is stranded in a second wave of confinement, the North African Kingdom is on track to get vaccinated out of the crisis and life in Morocco is almost as before.

The journalist also referred to the declining number of new cases and fatalities recorded in Morocco. “500 new infections and a dozen deaths, these are figures that will make Germany and many other countries in the European Union jealous,” Hackensberger wrote.

As to the reasons behind Morocco’s success, the journalist listed a clear strategy, temporary isolation measures, as well as a high level of public confidence. All this has enabled the Kingdom to overcome the second wave of the pandemic.

Hicham Sbai, professor at the School of Medicine of Tangier, told the journalist, when asked about the success of Morocco, that this success is explained by the swift and anticipated reaction of the Kingdom and a strategy involving all institutions and all stakeholders at national and regional level.

Several media in Europe, which is dragging behind in terms of vaccination, have praised Morocco’s performance.

In this vein, the British newspaper Express, in an article titled “The humiliation of the European Union”, published over the weekend, called for taking example on Morocco which “beats the (European) union on vaccination … despite the launch of its campaign only three weeks (ago)”.

And here again, as in the early hours of the pandemic in 2020, the so-called developed countries are not examples. Morocco, which distinguished itself last year for its exemplary management of the pandemic, is making a strong comeback with its vaccination campaign, which so far has proven to be flawless, the media outlined.

Morocco, cited more than once as a reference for its good management of the pandemic containment, the rapid implementation of the production and distribution circuit of masks sold at unbeatable prices, its low mortality rate in the face of the disease, is again promoted to the rank of good student in the face of a European Union which is struggling to organize itself in the face of the pandemic, commented the British media.

The vaccination campaign in Morocco was launched on Jan.28 and as of Feb.24 nearly 3 million people have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while the second dose was administered so far to 37,310 people.