Marruecos aprueba el uso de la vacuna de Oxford/AstraZeneca
Morocco approved the emergency use of the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine for 12 months in the context of its mass vaccination campaign which will benefit more than 80% of the population, according to the Ministry of Health.
The Moroccan government gave the green light after the vaccine was approved in the UK, India and Argentina. In total, Morocco has purchased 66 million doses of vaccine from AstraZeneca and the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm. These will therefore be the two companies that will meet the demand for vaccines in the North African country.
According to the government, preparations to start its vaccination campaign are at a "very advanced" stage. The plan is to vaccinate all persons over 18 years of age, starting with health professionals, security forces, education personnel, persons at risk and persons over 65 years of age. They will then proceed to vaccinate the adult population, albeit on a voluntary basis. They expect to vaccinate most of the over-18 population within three months.
The vaccination campaign will therefore be progressive and will also be free of charge. The Ministry of Health puts the total number of people infected at 425,864 and the number of deaths at 7,130. Some 388 728 people have reportedly recovered from the virus.
The figures, however, are not entirely accurate and the Ministry of Health has been criticised for this. The mismatch in the data from public centres and private centres would be the cause and it appears that private centres would not be rigorously reporting the data and records to the public sector.
The Moroccan government did not allow private laboratories to work on tests to detect the virus until the pandemic was already advanced. In September only 12 private laboratories were able to carry out tests due to the lack of the necessary number of tests, but also to avoid the gap that has ended up with the private health figures.
Another reason why there were misgivings about allowing private clinics to manage matters related to the pandemic was the corruption it could generate. On 24 November, the National Health Insurance Agency (ANAM) decided to sanction several private clinics that over-billed infected patients, forcing them to return the excess cost to the patients. The authorities are even contemplating the closure of the clinics that do not comply with the law.
On 12 March Morocco announced the closure of all its borders and the following day suspended sea and air connections with Spain. A few days later it closed the land border with Melilla and Ceuta, leaving thousands of Moroccans outside its territory far from their families, whom they were unable to meet again until months later.
The use of obligatory masks, home confinement and perimeter fencing by neighbourhoods were other measures approved by the Moroccan government to tackle the health crisis.
A few weeks ago, a curfew was also decreed from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., and catering establishments have been closed in the country's main cities.
In order to have better control of people leaving their perimeter, the authorities launched an app for use by the police in which by inserting a citizen's ID card they can see their place of residence and the areas where they have restricted mobility.
In order to keep a record of infections, they launched another application for citizens to indicate the date the positive one was diagnosed and the date when it became negative again. The people with whom they have been in contact are also registered.
The 169 million euros given by the European Union to Morocco will also help the country to combat not only the health crisis but also the economic one.
