chargement...
Like most countries, Morocco is racing against the clock to launch its anti-Covid-19 vaccination campaign. The race started in August, when the Kingdom’s Health Minister Khalid Ait Taleb announced that the country «will participate with certain countries in Covid-19 vaccine trials». The Minister proudly spoke of «sufficient vaccine quantity», «deadline» and «self-sufficiency». Words that have not been translated into actions yet, as Morocco is still waiting for its vaccine doses.
After this «promising» announcement, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita phoned his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on August 19 to speed things up. One day later, two cooperation agreements on anti-Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials were signed by Morocco and the China National Biotec Group Company (Sinopharm). On September 2, vaccine clinical trials started in Morocco.
Trusting its «approach», Morocco signed, on September 18, a memorandum of understanding for the acquisition of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca.
The agreement with the «R-Pharm» Company was concluded during an online ceremony marked by the presence of several Moroccan ministers, including Abdelouafi Laftit, Mohamed Benchaaboun and Nasser Bourita.
Postponing the vaccination campaign
In October, Khalid Ait Taleb chaired a working session that focused on future measures and techniques on expanding vaccination against the coronavirus in all the regions of Morocco. The next day, he told the MAP agency that his department was «not sparing an effort to ensure a sufficient stock of anti-Covid19 vaccines, after the completion of clinical trials and the sale on the global market».
A statement that paved the way for more optimism. The same month, Head of Government Saadeddine El Othmani announced to MPs and the general public that negotiations were underway with three new companies for the acquisition of an anti-Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it is placed on the international market. There followed announcements, relayed by the press, of lots received «in December», even before the launch of the vaccination campaign. The latter was not officially launched by King Mohammed VI until November 9.
Between November and December, Ait Taleb reviewed his speech. Speaking to France 24, the Minister of Health could not give an exact date to the start of the long-awaited vaccination campaign.
He said that the exact date «has not yet been defined». He then explained that it was likely to start by the end of December.
Confusion
In December, rumors indicating that Morocco would wait for the approval of the two vaccines in their countries of origin before authorizing them on the national territory were silenced. However, by the end of the month, the United Kingdom and China gave their green light to the two products before the Ministry of Health started the approval process, thus giving a base to the same rumors.
The last week of the year has started without the launch of the vaccination campaign for Morocco nor the acquisition of a single dose. The Minister then ended up acknowledging that the lots had not yet reached Morocco, when the media continued to announce an imminent reception.
Sinopharm's vaccine developed with Peking University will «probably be used in Morocco for vaccination», Professor Redouane Abouqal said during a webinar organized by SMSM. The confusion is even higher, knowing that the Kingdom had carried out clinical trials using the Sinopharm vaccine developed with Wuhan University.
On top of this, several events remain unexplained by the Ministry of Health, such as the surprising resignation of two Sinopharm senior officials and the replacement of the company «R-Pharm» by the Serum Institute of India, as well as the multiple postponements of the arrival of the vaccine delivered by the latter.
Today, if one thing is certain, it is that the Indian producers do not seem to place Morocco at the head of their main priority destinations. After supplying India, the vaccine doses manufactured by the Serum Institue of India will go to Brazil instead in two weeks.
