Morocco Surpasses Global Average for COVID-19 Vaccine Administration

Rabat – Morocco has administered at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 27.4% of its population, exceeding the global average of 23.4%.

According to Our World in Data, countries worldwide have administered a cumulative 3.04 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine since global vaccination campaigns began in January 2021.

Morocco leads Africa in its vaccination campaign of at least one dose administered followed by South Africa at 5%, and Kenya at 2%.

Global leaders such as Canada, the UK, and Israel report impressive single-dose vaccination rates. The countries have administered at least one dose to 68%, 66%, and 65% of their populations respectively.

Morocco is nearing 10 million full-vaccinations as the kingdom has currently fully-vaccinated 9.12 million people.

In addition, Morocco falls into a “grey zone” regarding full-vaccinations as the country falls outside the group of 44 countries that have fully-vaccinated at least half of their populations, but also does not fall into the group of 67 countries that have fully-vaccinated less than 10% of their population.

“14 countries, most of them in Africa, have yet to reach 1% of their citizens,” stated Fortune in response to Our World in Data’s most recent COVID-19 global vaccination update.

A combination of unequal vaccine distribution paired with the new Delta variant of the virus has accelerated Africa into its third wave of the pandemic. Hospitals in countries such as Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are running out of oxygen tanks and beds for those infected with the virus.

While the world’s economic leaders’ vaccination campaigns continue to thrive, countries relying on the World Health Organization’s COVAX plan are at a disadvantage.

Morocco has begun to weigh the option of producing its own COVID-19 vaccine to speed up the vaccination process. However, the kingdom still awaits the finalization of a deal with China that would provide vaccine development technologies.