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Rabat – Israel is collaborating with Morocco to develop manufacturing capabilities for the COVID-19 vaccine in North Africa.
According to Maghreb Intelligence, Israel has expressed interest in Morocco’s vaccine manufacturing projects in collaboration with the China National Pharmaceutical Group – the company which owns Sinopharm.
Israel has begun construction of a vaccine management facility within Morocco’s Pasteur Institute, a public institution established in 1967. The Israeli contribution will help in centralizing and managing Moroccan vaccine production before they are distributed, according to the report.
Nonetheless, the news outlet believes that it must be an Israeli state-run agency, citing “draconian security measures” and “presence of Israeli security elements” at the institute last week.
Morocco launched its vaccine manufacturing project on July 5 in Fez, with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI chairing the ceremony. Various parties were present to sign conventions and agreements related to the local manufacture of the COVID-19 vaccine.
A press statement from the royal cabinet stressed that Morocco aims to achieve self-sufficiency in the sector with “complete” and “integrated” industrial and biotechnological capacities for vaccine manufacture.
The development followed King Mohammed VI’s talk with the Chinese President Xi Jinping on August 31, 2020, where the two parties explored how to further strengthen cooperation in fighting the pandemic. Nearly a year later, there have been several agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) to cement the working relationship between the two countries.
The first agreement signed at the ceremony was an MoU between Morocco and the National Pharmaceutical Group of China (SINOPHARM), which establishes the foundation for cooperation in joint-development of a COVID-19 vaccine. It was Morocco’s Minister of Health, Khalid Ait Taleb, and the President of China’s Sinopharm Group, Liu Jingzhen, who signed the agreement.
The director of the CDC in Africa, John Nkengasong, took to Twitter to congratulate Morocco “on the launch of vaccine manufacturing!”
“Africa is on the move – a few weeks ago it was South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, and Senegal,” he wrote, adding “Congratulations to all – our vaccine health security has begun!”
