Flu Vaccine Prices Soar in Morocco, Limiting Access Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Moroccans will have to pay more than in 2019 to afford this luxury from November 2 next, reports Le 360. The price of the dose sold in 2019 at 79 DH now goes up to 125 DH. Worse, the supply will be limited this year unlike the previous year. For the officials of the Directorate of Medicines and Pharmacy (under the Ministry of Health), the virtual meeting held this Wednesday with the managers of the supervisory ministry was a disappointment. According to the union members, they pleaded in vain to associate pharmacists free of charge in the vaccination act.

The president of the CSPM, Mohammed Lahbabi, denounced the ministry’s decision to impose the purchase of vaccines in pharmacies against a prescription. According to him, "this measure is likely to further serve the interests of doctors, to the detriment of patients." According to Mohammed Lahbabi, the vaccination campaign will be hardly accessible this year to the destitute who do not benefit from any form of medical coverage. These people will now have to pay between 400 and 450 dirhams to pay the doctor’s fees, the vaccine and, finally, the vaccination act.

The other concern of the CSPM is related to the supply of a sufficient number of vaccine doses. While the Sanofi laboratory has announced an annual increase in global production of 20%, the Moroccan authorities plan to only procure 300,000 doses against 600,000 in 2019 despite the very worrying health context of the Kingdom.