The Moroccan government announced Thursday, December 24 that it had ordered 65 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm and British AstraZeneca vaccines, specifying that preparations for the launch of the vaccination campaign targeting 25 million people were "
very advanced
".
However, no date for the start of the campaign or for the reception of vaccines has been announced.
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“
The preparations have reached very advanced stages.
Field exercises, covering all stages of the process of immunizing citizens, have been set up,
”said Minister of Health Khalid Ait Taleb quoted in a government statement.
Morocco has opted for Chinese Sinopharm and British AstraZeneca vaccines, a government source confirmed.
These vaccines each require two doses per person.
The vaccination campaign, which was decreed free by King Mohammed VI, will primarily target front-line staff in the health, security and education sectors, as well as vulnerable and elderly people, before spread to the rest of the population.
A computer system has been set up for "
recording
" the people targeted by the campaign and "
monitoring
" their state of health, the statement said.
The pandemic is not weakening in Morocco where more than 2,000 new positive cases are on average recorded on a daily basis.
The local media do not fail to warn about the drop in the number of tests carried out each day.
Morocco, a country of 35 million inhabitants, has a total of more than 425,000 cases of contamination, including 7,130 deaths.
A national nighttime curfew has been in place since Wednesday for three weeks.
Public or private gatherings are prohibited and restaurants, cafes, shops and supermarkets closed from 8:00 p.m.
Restaurants in Casablanca, Marrakech, Agadir and Tangier are completely closed for three weeks.
Morocco has extended the state of health emergency until January 10, 2021.