Health

Covid-19 vaccination campaign continues in Morocco with Sputnik V as third vaccine

Rabat (Morocco), March 11 (EFE), (Camera: Fatima Zohra Bouaziz).- Morocco, which has already vaccinated more than 4 million people, has just added the Russian Sputnik V vaccine to the AstraZeneca and Sinopharm ones while it will soon have the American Johnson & Johnson, according to the country's health minister Khaled ait Taleb. FOOTAGE OF COVID-19 VACCINATION CAMPAIGN IN MOROCCO. SOUNDBITES OF KHALED AIT TALEB, MOROCCO'S HEALTH MINISTER:"We are negotiating with the Russians to obtain a certain amount for March and another for April, now they are free to decide whether to accept or reject it because I do not know the commitments they have already been signed with other countries." "We have not yet validated Johnson & Johnson, we have not yet received the scientific response to do so, but it is a great vaccine that has the same technology as Sputnik V and AstraZeneca." "The nationwide vaccination strategy involves first, vaccinating 80% of the population in Morocco to achieve collective immunity, that is, at least 30 million inhabitants have to benefit from vaccination. Second, we have to diversify vaccines, at the beginning, we have limited the use only to two vaccines, we need 66 million doses, enough to vaccinate more than 30 million people.""The goal is to achieve herd immunity. Today we cannot speak of individual immunity, because if we achieve herd immunity, we will defeat the virus." "We hope to finish the vaccination campaign in May, the shorter the campaign, the more effective it will be to guarantee herd immunity and the fewer side effects we will have."