Morocco To Receive First 2-Million-Dose Vaccine Batch On Friday - Gov't Source

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2021) The first shipment of 2 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses will be delivered to the northern African nation on Friday, a government source told Sputnik.

In late December, the country's health authorities said they secured a total of 65 million doses of two coronavirus vaccines, developed separately by China's Sinopharm and UK's AstraZeneca companies, as part of a plan to inoculate up to 25 million people in the country for free. Medical and education personnel, security services and public authorities are in priority for the vaccination.

"The first batch of vaccine against the coronavirus will arrive in Morocco from India today. The volume of the batch is two million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in the UK and produced by Indian pharmaceutical companies," the source said.

It specified that the vaccine will be administered for use once the country's Health Ministry is ready to start the mass vaccination campaign.

Morocco has been under the state of health emergency ever since the COVID-19 infections occurred in the country. The health limitations include ban on private and public gatherings, a recently imposed night curfew and other measures. The authorities extend the restrictions on a regular basis, with the latest extension set to expire on February 10.

To date, Morocco has detected 463,706 COVID-19 infections with the death toll at 8,076.