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Denver – Morocco announced it has opened the first of many planned “smart” vaccination centers, designed to increase the efficiency of the national vaccination campaign to curb the resurgent COVID-19 crisis.
The centers are intended to digitize the process of vaccination for Morccan citizens and residents, as well as “accelerate the rate of vaccination,” according to a Health Ministry official.
Patients will be able to scan QR codes that will track their progress from initial registration, up until the time they receive their vaccine doses. Experts estimate this could potentially increase the rate of vaccinations to 4,000 people per day per center.
Moroccan company Mediot is behind the designs for the smart centers, and VP Amer Benouda said that plans for additional centers are currently “under discussion.” Morocco has already administered over 26 million vaccine doses, making it the country with the highest proportion of vaccinated people in Africa.
However, with global travel restrictions easing, and dangerous new variants of COVID-19 emerging, the country is once again being inundated with a surge of COVID infections. According to the health ministry, Morocco currently has 47% of its COVID resuscitation beds occupied due to the resurgence.
Authorities have implemented several measures in attempts to curb the new flow of infections. In addition to a nationwide night curfew, travel to and from COVID hotspots such as Agadir, Marrakech, and Casablanca has been severely restricted.
Officials from the Ministry of Health have also called on legislators to implement mandatory vaccination policies within the country. While the majority of Morocco’s elderly population have been vaccinated against COVID, a large section of the country’s younger populations still remains unvaccinated.
Last week, the government announced its decision to extend the vaccination campaign to individuals aged 20 and above, suggesting the North African country’s determination to reach herd immunity.
