Algeria kicks off Covid-19 vaccination campaign with Sputnik V, expects first shipment of AstraZeneca vaccineAlgeria on Saturday launched its coronavirus vaccination campaign starting in the northern city of Blida, the epicentre of the country’s Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020. Algiers said it had received a first shipment of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine on Friday, having announced in late December it had ordered 500,000 doses from its long-time ally Moscow. Health Minister Abderrahmane Benbouzid said the country was working to acquire sufficient vaccine doses to immunise all of Algeria’s 44 million people, the official APS news agency reported. The vaccination campaign will be carried out in “phases” across all regions, “without exception”, he said, cited by APS. Some 8,000 health centres have been mobilised to roll out vaccinations, starting with medical workers, the elderly and people with chronic health conditions. From Sunday, security and civil protection personnel, workers in the education sector, religious leaders, politicians and journalists will alsostart to receive the jab. Algeria is also expecting a first shipment of the vaccine developed by Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Sunday, and has also procured doses of vaccines from China and India, according to Communications Minister Ammar Belhimer. Authorities on Saturday also decided to ease coronavirus measures by lifting a curfew in 10 provinces. However, in 19 provinces, a curfew between 8 pm and 5 am remained in force, with markets, sports halls and recreation centres closed. Algeria, the largest country in North Africa, closed its borders on March 17 and has yet to reopen them. |
Morocco’s King gets first vaccine
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI received a vaccine against the coronavirus on Thursday, the palace said, as the North African kingdom launched its nationwide innoculation campaign. The palace released a photo of the monarch, 57, raising the sleeve of his t-shirt to receive the jab at his residence in the city of Fez. It did not say which vaccine he received, but it added that Morocco’s nationwide vaccination campaign will “roll out progressively and in tranches, reaching all Moroccan citizens and residents aged 17 and over” — some 25 million people. The injections will be free to all, aiming “to immunise all sectors of the Moroccan people… with the goal of progressively returning to normal life”, the palace said.
A country of 35 million people, Morocco has registered nearly half a million cases of the Covid-19 illness and 8,224 deaths, battering the country’s economy and forcing a renewed curfew from December 23. The virus has ravaged the densely populated cities of Casablanca and Sale, near Rabat. The kingdom said last month it had ordered 65 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine as well as doses of the vaccine developed by the Chinese firm Sinopharm.
