The Serum Institute of India (SII) has told Morocco, as well as Saudi Arabia and Brazil, that further supplies of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will be delayed, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
According to the same source, the reason behind this delay returns to surging demand at home, especially after India is being criticized domestically for donating or selling more doses than inoculations conducted at home, despite reporting the most number of coronavirus infections after the United States and Brazil.
Morocco received two shipments of AstraZeneca vaccine from the Indian Serum Institute; the last shipment was in late February, since then, Morocco has not received any shipment from the same Institute.
The total doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford's vaccine that Morocco has acquired in the two shipments are 7 million, making this vaccine the mainstay of the national vaccination campaign against COVID-19. In contrast, the Sinopharm vaccine that Morocco has received from China has been limited to only 1 million and a half doses.
It has been noticed recently in Morocco that there a delay in the arrival of new vaccine shipments because the health authorities have slowed the vaccination campaign, as well as, the ministry of health decided to approve the use of two new vaccines, the Russian Sputnik V and the American Johnson and Johnson.
However, Morocco has not yet received any vaccine shipments from Russia or The United States.
