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Sinopharm, the Chinese vaccine (not valid for the EU Green Pass) aims at Africa. Morocco dossier

Sinopharm, the Chinese vaccine (not valid for the EU Green Pass) aims at Africa. Morocco dossier

The King of Morocco has announced an agreement for the production and distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine in Morocco . Among the various agreements, the one with the Chinese group Sinopharm stands out, but the prime minister says that … All the details (not only on Morocco)

Chinese vaccines will also be produced in Morocco . The sanitary silk road, the Chinese diplomatic expansion project in sanitary sauce, scores two more hits. On the one hand, he announced that Sinopharm's vaccines will also be produced in Morocco and on the other, he celebrated a million doses produced in Egypt, a country where the production of anti-covid serums began last January. Morocco, moreover, is at the top of the list of African countries that have administered the most vaccines with 10 million doses injected, although there remains a large gap between the first and the second.

Chinese diplomacy in Africa

China's health diplomacy in Africa has solid roots. The first group of Chinese doctors was sent to Algeria in 1963, others followed in the following years, more than 15,000 doctors in 47 countries . Doctors were often part of a larger collaboration and were perceived as a more political than a health need. Over the past 20 years, China has become the largest trading partner and largest creditor of African countries.

Chinese vaccines produced in Egypt

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting the African continent. Two days ago, together with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, he attended a ceremony to celebrate the joint production of 1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the North African country. Last December the two sides signed a letter of intent for cooperation in the production of the Covid-19 vaccine, a Chinese company has engaged with an Egyptian by signing an agreement and has sent technical teams to Egypt to facilitate production. local drug. Just six months later, the Chinese vaccine was officially put into production in Egypt and quickly reached 1 million doses.

Egypt is the first African country in the production of Chinese vaccines

The production of the first batch of vaccines led Egypt to become the first country on the African continent to produce the Chinese vaccine against Covid-19. The involvement of Egypt is another important step in strengthening collaboration between China and one of the most advanced countries on the African continent. It will also facilitate the spread of the vaccine in Africa by closing the immunity gap.

Agreement between Morocco and Sinopharm

On July 5, the King of Morocco Mohammed VI announced that he had achieved an agreement relating to the production and distribution in Morocco of the vaccine against Covid-19. Among the various agreements, the one with Sinopharm, the Chinese National Pharmaceutical Group, which will collaborate with the Moroccan state-owned pharmaceutical company Sothema, to produce its anti-Covid vaccine directly in the Kingdom of North Africa, stands out. The signed contract provides for the supply by the Moroccan state of SOTHEMA industrial plants for the production of the Chinese vaccine. Investments will be around 421 million euros to produce 5 million doses per month, figures that will progressively increase making Morocco one of the first African countries to produce anti-Covid vaccines locally . The collaboration in the health field between Rabat and Beijing began in 2020 when, with an agreement with Sinopharm, Morocco had consented to the clinical trial on 600 Moroccan volunteers of the Chinese phase III vaccine. The deal also included priority access to 10 million doses of the vaccine itself by the end of the year

Expansion of Moroccan influence on the mainland via China

The project, in addition to promoting the health sovereignty of the Kingdom in the face of external addictions, aims to expand Moroccan influence on the African continent. China will be the sponsor of the prestigious Egyptian project and will use it strategically to facilitate its interests in Africa, of which it is now the main trading partner. The government of Rabat aims to gain diplomatic prestige, increasing soft power capabilities in order to be able to counter the expansion ambitions of Algeria towards the Sahel and West Africa .

The prime minister's alarm

Despite the wide diffusion of Sinopharm , the Chinese vaccine whose effectiveness nevertheless raises doubts, the North African Kingdom could register an average of 8,000 cases per day in August, the highest peak ever recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, if measures are not taken immediately. containment of infections. The alarm was raised yesterday by the Moroccan Prime Minister, Saadeddine el Othmani, underlining that the Scientific Committee has proposed the application of more stringent measures to counter the spread of the epidemic. For its part, the Moroccan government reserves the right to decide to introduce new measures gradually and possibly assess the progress of the epidemic over the next three weeks. The last word, however, belongs to King Mohamed VI . But according to reports from the newspaper "Al Yaoum 24", the premier added that if the cases continue to increase following this trend, the introduction of new containment measures will be inevitable.

Vaccines in Africa: imports from China, India and Russia

The COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (Covax) program, born from the collaboration between the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), aims to bring vaccines even to less economically developed countries to reduce the gap in access to vaccination. The initiative covers the vast majority of African states . Vaccines distributed through this initiative have reached 22 states including Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Africa also procures vaccines through direct imports from India, Russia and China. China has implemented a Sinopharm vaccine donation program that so far covers 13 states: Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Niger, Benin, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Namibia, Mozambique and Comoros.

Validity of the Chinese vaccine in Europe

From 1 July, the Green Pass was introduced in Europe, the certificate thanks to which you can circulate without the restrictions that we have come to know. The validity of the green pass is six months for those who have recovered from Covid and 48 hours for those who have carried out a swab with negative results. For those who are vaccinated it is nine months from the completion of the vaccination, therefore from the second dose for vaccines that require it. Those who have had the Astrazeneca vaccine will have a vaccination certificate valid for about a year, ie from fifteen days after the first dose to nine months after the second. For those vaccinated with Pfizer and Moderna the duration will be around ten months, while for those with a single Johnson & Johnson dose the duration is just over nine months. It is also possible to certify vaccination with vaccines not approved by the EMA , such as Sputnik or Sinopharm, used for example in Hungary: in this case, however, it will be up to individual Member States to decide whether to accept them or not.

In Italy the Chinese vaccine is not valid

The pass has a national counterpart, which can be used to transit between regions of different colors. This document is valid from the 15th day following the inoculation of the first dose of one of the vaccines recognized by AIFA , therefore one of Pfizer , Moderna , Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) or Janssen (Johnson & Johnson). Therefore, vaccination carried out with different vaccines has no value.


This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/sinopharm-il-vaccino-cinese-non-valido-per-il-green-pass-ue-punta-allafrica/ on Wed, 21 Jul 2021 05:54:06 +0000.