Rabat – The COVAX vaccine facility has supplied Morocco with the first batch of vaccine doses, the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday.
COVAX, a global initiative to ensure COVID-19 vaccines, vowed to send additional doses to the North African country in the coming weeks, the statement from the Ministry of Health added.
The Ministry of Health said the initiative will give a complimentary supply of Sars-CoV-2 vaccines that will allow Morocco to continue its national vaccination campaign against COVID-19.
Reports estimated the number of doses Morocco received from COVAX at 307,200.
King Mohammed VI launched the vaccination campaign on January 28.
Since the start of the campaign, Morocco has vaccinated 4,433,939 citizens.
Approximately 4,075,290 people have received the second dose of the vaccine.
The Ministry of Health said Morocco participated in the COVAX initiative, which was set up at the end of 2020.
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization introduced the initiative in collaboration with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Coalition for innovations in the field, among other partners.
The global initiative works with governments and manufacturers to ensure the availability of vaccines to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVAX initiative has enabled more than 100 participating countries to benefit from rapid and equitable access to doses of safe, effective, and WHO-recognized vaccines.
UNICEF said on Thursday that COVAX delivered more than 38 million doses across six continents.
The vaccines will cover up to 20% of the population of each country involved in the COVAX initiative, despite the increased demand and reduced availability of vaccines, the Ministry of Health said.
In addition to vaccines received from the COVAX initiative, Morocco is also expected to receive 10 million vaccine doses from China.
China will supply Morocco with the vaccines in April and May.
Following the arrival of the first batch of vaccines from the COVAX initiative, Morocco received an additional 9.5 million vaccines. Seven million doses were from Oxford/AstraZeneca and the rest were from China’s Sinopharm.
Morocco ordered millions of doses to enable the country to reach herd immunization against COVID-19.
Morocco seeks to vaccinate 33 million or 80% of its population to achieve herd immunity.
