Two million doses of the Covishield vaccine, developed by the British laboratory AstraZeneca and Oxford University and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s biggest producer of vaccines, arrived in Casablanca on Friday and are already stored at the Autonomous Refrigeration Authority in Casablanca.
This lot, which was shipped from India to Morocco on Friday, is part of a contract concluded late last year.
This first batch will allow the vaccination of a million people.
According to press reports, the vaccination campaign will start this Saturday January 23 and will first target health professionals, security forces, authority officials, teachers and vulnerable people, especially those suffering from chronic diseases.
Morocco which aims to vaccinate 25 million people has also ordered vaccine doses from Chinese SinoPharm. According to the Health Ministry, the first shipment from China is expected on Wednesday, January 27.
So far, Morocco prepared 3000 vaccine locations and mobilized 25,531 health workers for the campaign which will run for 12 weeks.
As instructed by King Mohammed VI, all Morocan will benefit for free from the vaccine against the COVID-19.