Thami EL OUAZZANI
Reading the articles, the number of which is increasing, on obtaining the candidate vaccine against COVID 19, I realized that the stakes are high and that we must react and especially avoid becoming locked into a unjustified silence. My duty as a citizen forces me to react, to get information, ask questions and better understand, in the absence of public data on the actions that the public authorities are planning to acquire the candidate vaccine against COVID 19. , once available.
From my recent readings on the issue, I have mistakenly deduced that the number of transactions for vaccines against the coronavirus is multiplying overnight, whether it concerns commitments to purchase doses, production license agreements or the acquisition of direct holdings.
Some countries openly announce successful transactions and those underway or planned, while others are secretly activated.
The vaccine rush was particularly accelerated from the last week of July with the announcement by the United Kingdom of its signature of a contract with Pfizer Inc and BioNtech to obtain 30 million doses and with the French group Valneva for the acquisition of 60 million doses, in addition to two contracts for two other types of vaccines, for a total of 230 million doses. The same goes for the United States, which unveiled an agreement with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for an amount of $ 1.2 billion to secure 300 million doses. The same company signed on June 15 with a set of European countries (France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands) a contract to provide them with 400 million doses. More recently, on Friday July 31, Japan announced that it had reached an agreement with Pfizer Inc and BioNtech to obtain 120 million doses. For its part, the European Commission has announced that it has reserved on behalf of the 27 member states 300 million doses being prepared by the Sanofi group and that intensive discussions are continuing with other vaccine manufacturers.
To this list, I suppose a multitude of agreements concerning other candidate vaccines in development, probably less publicized, are added to it.
In this context, where are we, what do we foresee, “the future belongs to those who know how to anticipate”. Admittedly, the financial constraint may limit the room for maneuver of political decision-makers and certainly discourages economic actors, to limit myself only to this factor. However, the issue should not be obscured, it deserves to be placed on the table and with acuity and to discuss the ins and outs by involving a large number of stakeholders. Set up, for example, a Committee, but this time small, like the Interministerial Monitoring Committee which could be extended in particular to representatives of parliamentarians, scientific researchers and pharmaceutical companies.
Once again, I am not a specialist in the matter but common sense prompts me to wonder if we should blindly rely on the programs of CEPI “Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness”, GAVI “Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization “and COVAX whose objective” is to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines and to guarantee fair and equitable access for all countries of the world “.
Should we be satisfied with the assertion identified by international organizations that “no one is safe, unless everyone is safe” or the statement of UN SG Antonio Guterres during of the World Vaccine Summit on June 4 that “any future vaccine against COVID-19 should be accessible to all and considered a global public good”.
Being only layman in the matter, I am not in a position to answer this question. However, pragmatism dictates that rich countries will only share vaccines with poor countries when they no longer need them. However, I believe that multilateralism and international cooperation are the best ways to contain this pandemic. Moreover, our country has always attached great importance to bilateral, regional and international cooperation. Should we, in this regard, turn to friendly and allied countries and draw inspiration from the action initiated by the Philippines at the end of July, under which this country asked China for help to obtain access to a coronavirus vaccine, once available.
To date, our country has handled this exceptional situation well in an exemplary manner, under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, May God assist him. Morocco has thus launched several initiatives, including the establishment of a technical and scientific advisory committee, deployment of a special fund for the management of the pandemic piloted by an interministerial monitoring committee, the creation most recently, a Strategic Investment Fund for an equivalent amount of 11% of GDP, generalization of social protection to all Moroccans over the next five years, awareness campaigns to respect barrier gestures, social distancing, hygiene and mask wearing, early confinement and timely closure of borders, etc.
On the other hand, there is a lack of information on the strategy regarding the acquisition of the vaccine. Moreover at the beginning of June and despite Morocco’s participation in the World Summit on Vaccination, no detailed information is followed except for a brief press release.
It seems to me that this question relating to the supply of a candidate vaccine constitutes the missing piece in the puzzle of the public authorities’ strategy to face this pandemic. Perhaps, such a strategy does exist, but unfortunately its communication is lacking. It is time to catch up in this context marked by anxiety linked to the high number of cases recorded in Morocco in recent days. It goes without saying that the population is in dire need of rallying against the worry.
Finally, this article would have achieved its objective if feathers are activated to correct me, inform me and complete me.
So, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would be grateful if you could give free rein to your feathers !!!!!
I cannot conclude without having a thought for those who are on the front lines who risk their lives day and night for all of us, young and old, women and men. For our part, we citizens, we must be responsible and be imbued with our civic duty that the fight against this pandemic requires.
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