Africa’s CDC hopes continent will benefit from Morocco’s vaccine push

Head of the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) welcomed Morocco’s plan to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines locally, saying that the continent stands to benefit from this step.

Speaking following talks in Rabat with Morocco’s Foreign Minister, CDC chief John Nkengasong commended the efforts made by Morocco which so far vaccinated 45% of its adult population.

“I have learned that in a few months Morocco will start manufacturing vaccines. This will certainly help in the fight against Covid-19 in the Kingdom, but also at the continental level,” he told official media in Rabat.

Morocco so far moves in its vaccination campaign with a fast pace comparable with most advanced countries in the world, he said, adding that his visit to Morocco aims at exploring means to expand Morocco’s experience across the continent.

Morocco has so far administered 28.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines in addition to 300,000 doses of Johson & Johnson.

Last week it took receipt of a first shipment of 700,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as it diversifies supply sources to meet its herd immunity goal.

 

The CDC Africa chief, who is on a working visit to Morocco at the head of a high-level delegation, also held a meeting with Health Minister Khalid Aït Taleb, during which he highlighted Morocco’s actions to pool African countries’ efforts in the fight against the pandemic, welcoming in particular the sharing of experiences and good practices for an effective management of the crisis.