A first. Morocco, thanks to the signing on Thursday of two cooperation agreements with the Chinese laboratory “Sinopharm CNBG”, will be able, “probably very soon, to produce a vaccine (against Covid-19) as part of an exchange of ‘expertise between Rabat and Beijing ”, according to the Minister of Health Khalid Aït Taleb.
This Moroccan-Chinese collaboration will allow the Kingdom to ensure that Moroccan citizens are among the first served in terms of vaccination against the coronavirus, Aït Taleb told the press after the signing ceremony via video conference, simultaneously in Rabat and Beijing, of these two agreements.
Saying that he is convinced that the return to the normal pre-covid situation will only happen with a vaccine, the Minister stressed that this vaccine is very promising since it has already been approved by several countries.
He also said that the vaccine trials will initially involve volunteers as of next week, adding that the agreements reached will allow Morocco to have its own vaccine as soon as possible.
+ The anti-Covid-19 vaccine at 145 dollars +
The signing ceremony of these agreements between Morocco and China is intended to be the launch of a first experience of clinical trials of vaccines in the Kingdom which has a substantial legal arsenal in the matter, made a point of clarifying, moreover. , Aït Taleb.
These agreements revolve around three components, namely cooperation in the field of Phase III clinical trials of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine and global cooperation, while the third component concerns a desire to open up to the South and the North. .
For his part, the director of the Chinese public laboratory Sinopharm, Liu Jingzhen, indicated that the price of the two vaccines against Covid-19, currently in an advanced phase of development, would not be high.
“It should cost a few hundred yuan for one injection and less than 1,000 yuan ($ 145) for two doses,” the director of Sinopharm told Chinese media.
However, according to the Fiercepharma.com site, “it is not clear whether Liu was referring to the price the public will have to pay”, especially since “it is not yet certain that Beijing will help cover some of the costs. a vaccine against the pandemic developed by a public company ”.
The same source estimates that at $ 145 for two doses, Sinopharm’s products would be even more expensive than the wholesale doses offered in the United States, where drugs are generally more expensive.
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