Rabat – American Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the US administration’s donation of 302,400 doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccines to Morocco is part of the new administration’s efforts to bring the US back to the forefront of the global fight against the pandemic.
“This donation is part of President Biden’s promise to share vaccines worldwide to lead the fight toward ending the pandemic,” Blinken stated in a tweet.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>To help save Moroccan lives, the United States is pleased to provide 302,400 doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine through <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVAX?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#COVAX</a>. This donation is part of <a href=”https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@POTUS</a> Biden’s promise to share vaccines worldwide to lead the fight toward ending the pandemic. <a href=”https://t.co/Ui363zsyI7″>pic.twitter.com/Ui363zsyI7</a></p>— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) <a href=”https://twitter.com/SecBlinken/status/1419305832676790272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
The United States is planning on donating close to 500 million vaccine doses globally. The first shipments, planned for the coming days, will see nearly a million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine delivered to Burkina Faso, Djibouti, and Ethiopia.
In total, approximately 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be made available to 49 African countries in the coming weeks.
The African Union/Africa CDC, AVAT, AFreximbank, COVAX and the US Government are set to collaborate and “will continue to support countries’ access to COVID-19 vaccines and readiness for delivery,” according to statement by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).
This initiative is part of the COVAX coalition, aiming for equitable global access to anti-COVID19 vaccines.
GAVI introduced the initiative in collaboration with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Coalition for innovations in the fields, among other partners.
Morocco’s vaccination campaign is on a steady pace. As of today, nearly 10 million citizens and residents have been fully vaccinated against the virus, while close to 12 million have received the first dose.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a novelty in Morocco, as the country has only administered AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines since the start of its campaign.
Janssen, J&J’s anti-COVID19 vaccine is a single shot vaccine approved by the World Health Organization, and administered by the United States, the European Union, the African Union, the United Kingdom,, and Canada.
Recent studies raised concerns that the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine may not be as effective as the two-dose mRNA shots in fighting off infection from new coronavirus variants, including the Delta variant.
The claims have yet to be peer reviewed and published in official medical journals, but as COVID19 mutates, such concerns fuel prevalent anti vaxxing sentiment worldwide.
Vaccine skeptics have frequently brought up the reports of positive cases among the vaccinated population as their main argument against getting vaccinated. While the rate of infection among vaccinated populations remains extremely low, anti-vaxxers maintain that the existence of cases is enough to suggest that vaccines do not work.
Recent data indicated that only 0.037% of fully vaccinated individuals (two doses) were infected by COVID19 in Morocco.
However, reports show a significant difference in both the severity of symptoms, and side effects that come with being COVID positive while vaccinated.
Although vaccinated individuals can still be infected with the virus, the vaccine does in fact minimize the severity of the infection, and prevents long lasting chronic side effects.
Amid fears of an increasingly dire-looking third wave of COVID infections in Morocco, the Moroccan Health Ministry has consistently reiterated the importance of getting vaccinated and urged citizens to book their vaccination appointments to limit the severity of the pandemic atat the national level.
Since launching its vaccine rollout in January of this year, Since launching its vaccine rollout in January of this year, Morocco has gone to great lengths to secure both medical equipment and a steady supply of vaccines to counter the virus.
The recent announcement of an upcoming “Made In Morocco” vaccine, in partnership with Chinese pharma manufacturer Sinopharm, ignited a sense of relaxation and hope relaxation and hope among among Moroccanss.
But considering the project’s ambitious vision for the continent, the North African country is yet tothe North African country is yet to reach the much-desired vaccine the much-desired vaccine self-sufficiency in terms of vaccines. In addition to this week’s donation by the US of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, recent weeks have witnessed In addition to this week’s donation by the US of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, recent weeks have witnessed frequent shipments ofof Sinopharm vaccines from China to Morocco. vaccines from China to Morocco.
