While Morocco was to launch the manufacture of the Chinese anti-covid vaccine Sinopharm at the end of the year, this large-scale project still faces some challenges and obstacles before its start, which was initially planned for this month of December 2021.
The delay observed in the launch of production of the Sinopharm vaccine in Morocco, comes back to the continued attention paid to the analysis of verification samples, so-called validation batches, which are always subjected to tests in order to make sure they are compatible with the original vaccine, Health Minister Khaled Ait Taleb said in a statement to MoroccoLatestNews Ar when signing a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Industry.
Asked by MoroccoLatestNews on the date of starting the manufacture of the Sinopharm vaccine in Morocco, which was scheduled for this month of December, the government official assured that ” everything is ready, we were just waiting for the final touches on the validation batches, to make sure they match the original vaccine. Soon the manufacture of the vaccine will be announced “, he said.
In July 2021, Morocco had reached an agreement with China for the manufacture of the vaccine ” Sinopharm », For a global investment of around $ 500 million, with the aim of ensuring the self-sufficiency of the kingdom in anti-covid vaccine, before being able to export it abroad, in particular to the countries of the continent African.
Through the manufacture of the Chinese vaccine, Morocco aspires to become a leading biotechnology platform on the scale of the African continent and the world, particularly in the field of the “ Fill and Finish “(bottling process).
In addition, this project, presented to King Mohammed VI, aims to strengthen the kingdom’s vocation as a provider of health security within its regional and continental environment, in the face of health risks, external dependencies and political contingencies.
In a speech on the occasion of the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the promotion of the national manufacture of medical devices and health products, signed between the ministries of Industry and Trade and Health, Khalid Ait Taleb asserted that ” the global health context characterized by the continuous spread of the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the external dependence in the field of the health products industry“.
” Morocco has put in place a new strategy, in the emergency context caused by the spread of the pandemic and within the framework of its national drug policy, which relies on the Moroccan industry in the field of drugs and products. health, in particular medical devices, to ensure national sovereignty“, Ait Taleb said.
The same government official pointed out that “ the local industry of medical devices and health products is a strategic necessity for Morocco and its security, in addition to being a pillar of the national economy, and a boost to the Kingdom’s capacity to create sustainable opportunities in the industrial sector, and make this sector stable“, Raising at the same time the need to support the players concerned with this strategy.
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