Morocco Considers Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Amid Controversy

"There are several ways to make the vaccine compulsory without decreeing it and I think that is the scenario we are heading towards," confides to Maroc Diplomatique a source who has worked closely on the file. These allegations could be well-founded, especially since a fake draft law on the compulsory vaccination has raised lively controversies on social networks. The Head of Government, Saâdeddine El Othmani intervened to put an end to the rumors.

According to some indiscretions, the strategy would involve tightening, a few weeks before the end of the preparations for the vaccination campaign, the restrictive confinement measures. The condition to circumvent them would be to hold the vaccination document, which will replace all the authorizations provided so far by the authorities. Citizens wishing to travel abroad, move around, go to certain places, access a shopping center or a large retail store would be required to hold this precious pass.

"It will not be possible to travel without a Covid passport. That’s why the vaccines chosen by Morocco are recognized by the WHO and are part of the COVAX program which will allow vaccinated Moroccans to travel anywhere in the world," Khalid Aït Taleb also declared on 2M. "I think Moroccans are smart and will want to take advantage of it quickly, because the scarcity of vaccine doses does not allow us to ask this kind of question," he added.

Furthermore, people who get vaccinated "will be assigned a QR code" to cross borders.