MEED BY NEHA BHATIA
Rabat says the ‘massive campaign’ will be launched in the coming weeks.
The number of Covid-19 cases in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region crossed 2,949,372 on 10 November, according to Worldometers data collated by MEED.
Countries in the GCC account for 32.7 per cent (963,319) of all regional cases, while Iran makes up 23.5 per cent (692,949).
Wider Mena nations excluding Iran make up 43.8 per cent (1,293,104) of the 2.9 million confirmed cases.
On 9 November, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI announced a nation-wide vaccination plan against Covid-19 in the coming weeks.
The king said the decision was baed on advice from the National Scientific Committee.
A press release carried by state news agency MAP said the vaccine’s safety, efficacy and immunogenicity have been proven through completed and ongoing studies, but it did not specify which vaccine would be used.
Morocco accounts for 9 per cent of all confirmed cases in the Mena region, and has to date reported 259,951 cases of Covid-19, with 212,905 recoveries and 4,356 deaths.
Rabat’s campaign comes after the US-German pharmaceutical team of Pfizer and Biontech working on a Covid-19 vaccine announced their trials had achieved a success rate of 90 per cent in effectiveness against infection.
The official statement said that the North African country was able to obtain “an advanced rank in the supply of the vaccine”, which it did not identify, due to clinical trials it was able to participate in “thanks to the king’s personal involvement”.
Morocco is participating in clinical trials of a vaccine by Chinese company Sinopharm, which has agreed to provide Rabat with 10 million doses before end-2020 if the vaccine is effective.
The vaccination campaign will first target frontline workers from the health sector and security forces, as well as the elderly.
