During a meeting of the Group of Francophone Ambassadors in Geneva, dedicated to an exchange with the Director General and several officials of the WHO on the current global health crisis and the means to face it, the ambassador, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations Office and International Organizations in Geneva, Omar Zniber, recalled that HM King Mohammed VI launched on Thursday the national Covid-19 vaccination campaign, adding that the Sovereign has received the first dose of the vaccine.

"By receiving the vaccine, HM King Mohammed VI has launched the national Covid-19 vaccination campaign, meant to immunize the Moroccan population to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country,” he said in this regard.

Zniber recalled that well before the outbreak of the pandemic, Morocco, aware of global health issues, was preparing a conference, in cooperation with the WHO, on emergency situations, including pandemics, and how to respond to them.

This conference, scheduled for March 24 and 25, 2020, in Marrakech, had to be postponed, because of constraints related to containments and international trips restrictive measures, he added.

Following the presentation made by the Permanent Representative of Morocco, the Director General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, underlined the urgency of launching vaccination campaigns equitably in all countries of the world, as the only means to succeed in eradicating Covid-19 and its disastrous health and economic consequences.

He also stressed the importance of holding the Marrakech conference as soon as conditions allow it to, noting the need to draw lessons from the current health crisis and define the action programs necessary to deal with pandemics in the future.

This meeting was also an opportunity to discuss the prospects for cooperation between WHO and the International Organization of La Francophonie and to inform participants about the latest developments concerning WHO's action within the framework of the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, the WHO mechanism for coordinating the global response to Covid-19, and the COVAX Facility for the equitable distribution of vaccines. 

All the speakers, in particular the Permanent Representatives of the participating countries, underlined the urgent need to strengthen international cooperation and solidarity in the fight against Covid-19.