The anti-Covid19 vaccine developed by Sinopharm has obtained authorization for use, without an age limit of 60 years, by several countries, including Morocco, the department said in a press release on the opinion of the National Scientific ad-hoc Committee for the development of the vaccine strategy against Sars-Cov-2.

The overall immunogenicity of the Sinopharm vaccine during phase I and II clinical trials "is excellent for both the Sinopharm Beijing vaccine including people over 60 and the Sinopharm Wuhan vaccine, with a seroconversion rate between 97% and 100% after two injections", it recalled.

According to the ministry, the phase III clinical trial of the Sinopharm vaccine showed an overall efficacy of 86% and good safety.

In addition, the phase III clinical trial of the Sinopharm Wuhan vaccine, part of which took place in Morocco, included people aged 60 and over. "The preliminary results showed good tolerance in this population", it assured.

Pharmacovigilance data from the national vaccination campaign, concerning people aged 60 and over, do not show an increase in adverse effects compared to the rest of the vaccinated population.

To date, out of 36,009 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine in this age group, 8 cases of minor adverse effects have been reported, which corresponds to a notification rate of 2.2 cases per 10,000, said the press release, noting that this notification rate is considered rare.

In Morocco, people aged 60 and over represent 20% of the general population. This age group records 16.7% of confirmed Covid-19 cases and 75% of deaths caused by this disease. The case fatality rate among those aged 60 and over is 7.9%, or 15.8 times that observed among those under 60.