Morocco Considers Ending Free Covid Vaccines as Vaccination Rates Slow

After two years of coexistence with Covid-19, "many Moroccans are starting to consider the new coronavirus as a simple flu or cold" and are not adhering to the vaccination campaign, noted Professor Azzedine Ibrahimi, director of the biotechnology laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in Rabat and member of the Technical and Scientific Committee to fight the pandemic, reports Assabah.

On his official Facebook page, the doctor called on these fellow citizens to question the fact of "reserving many pavilions in hospitals and university hospital centers (CHU) for infected patients, while people with serious chronic illnesses have been suffering in silence for two years."

He specifies that "if the coronavirus is similar to the flu, why then the free vaccination and the reservation of beds in the intensive care units to the detriment of other serious illnesses"? For him, "we should not wait indefinitely for these people to want to join the national vaccination campaign." Professor Azzedine Ibrahimi is also concerned about the case of patients with other diseases who are waiting to be scheduled for surgical procedures.

If the new coronavirus is considered a simple flu, adds Professor Azzedine Ibrahimi, "vaccination must be paid for", like the one against seasonal influenza. However, "a deadline will have to be left to complete the vaccination protocol and end the free vaccination" and the dissemination of figures concerning Covid-19. "We underestimate everything that is free," he lamented.