In an interview with Russian news agency Sputnik, Ait Taleb said Morocco aims to become a producer of all kinds of vaccines with a high-tech vaccine production platform in the Mohammed VI technological city of Tangier.

This plant will help with the development of "made in Morocco" vaccines and ensure the self-sufficiency of the country while supplying the African continent and neighboring Maghreb countries, said the minister.

"These projects will take few months to see the light of day, but we might by the end of next year start producing our vaccines," he added.

Regarding the anti-covid-19 vaccination campaign, he said that "we are doing our best to get it started in mid-December."

''We wish it to be very short - not exceeding three months -, that it involves 80% of people aged over 18 - the population at risk first -, and that it offers a wide vaccination for a return to normality as soon as possible, i.e. next year,'' added the minister.

"If we can reach this threshold (80%), even if there are cases of contamination, the virus will automatically disappear spontaneously. Thus, we will be able to free ourselves from this crisis which is having a strong impact on the economy and all the other sectors that are currently impacted", assured the Minister.

He also said that for the first time in its history, Morocco is participating in multi-center vaccine trials, affirming that it is a transfer of expertise and an asset for the country.

Ait Taleb further indicated that in Morocco, "we are in a proactive and anticipatory management and therefore we have diversified the sources of supply".

The vaccine today is a scarce commodity and the production capacity is limited to meet the needs of the whole world, he added, noting that one should also not stick to just one type of vaccine, because each serum offers a particular type of immunity and the mixing of immunities helps with achieving group immunity rapidly.

During the negotiations, the minister went on, "we targeted several firms and, in the end, opted for the Chinese laboratory Sinopharm and the British-Swedish group Astrazeneca."

"The clinical trials of their vaccines are very successful. If all goes well, we will have the first arrivals by December. For other labs, negotiations are still under way," said Ait Taleb.

For the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine, he said that he plans to discuss this issue with his Russian counterpart next week