Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – Texas-based Zenger News has speculated that Morocco’s plans to become Africa’s biggest vaccine manufacturer could compete with China and Russia in African “vaccine diplomacy.”
“America’s oldest ally reveals plan to produce 20 million vaccine doses by years’ end, becoming the biomedical center of Africa,” writes author Virginia Van Zandt in a January 28 analysis on Morocco’s vaccine ambitions. The article comments on Morocco’s plan to build a giant vaccine manufacturer in the North African country.
The new medical complex, which is set to cost $448 million to build, could undermine the appeal of vaccines coming from Russia and China, according to the author.
The new vaccine factory to be built near Casablanca is a joint venture with Swedish pharmaceutical firm Recipharm, and is set to be the largest vaccine manufacturing unit in Africa. The new vaccine plant is of such a scale that it is expected to cover 70% of Morocco’s vaccine needs, and 60% of the entire African continent’s needs.
Vaccine diplomacy
The massive ramp up of African vaccine manufacturing in Morocco offers the potential for Morocco to engage in “vaccine diplomacy,” according to the Zenger analysis. Vaccine diplomacy refers to countries using their vaccine offering as means to build positive relations and strengthen diplomatic ties.
China’s widespread distribution of its vaccines in 2021 is a key example of vaccine diplomacy, with Sino-Morocco ties flourishing after the Asian giant provided most of the vaccines for Morocco’s national vaccination campaign.
The US has been catching up with its own vaccine diplomacy, after a year of accusations of vaccine hoarding. Washington is now offering countries around the world its vaccines amid a stalled domestic vaccine campaign and a growing consensus that global vaccine equity is the only solution to ending the pandemic.
Challenging Russia and China?
Whether Morocco seeks to compete with China and Russia, as Zenger postulates, remains to be seen. Morocco’s vaccine ambitions go beyond the Swedish-linked vaccine facility, as the country is also producing China’s Sinopharm vaccine.
Furthermore, Morocco has significantly strengthened its relations and economic ties with China in 2021, making them unlikely competitors. Russo-Moroccan relations similarly are flourishing, with an unprecedented number of diplomatic meetings between the two countries in recent years.
Morocco’s growing vaccine production capacity is sure to raise the country’s reputation and prestige on the African continent. But whether the Maghrebi nation will use this advantage to actively compete with Russia and China, remains to be seen.
Read also: The Myth of the ‘Developing Nation’ is Falling Apart
