Tayeb Hamdi, a physician and health policies and systems researcher, warned of a potential resurgence of measles cases in Morocco following the recent school holidays, emphasizing that the outbreak poses a serious threat to lives, health, education, and the socio-economic landscape of the country.
“The return to school after the holidays is likely to further fuel the ongoing measles outbreak in Morocco, with the epidemic potentially slowing down for 2 to 3 weeks after about 10 days of empty schools, only to pick up again due to the low level of herd immunity,” explained Hamdi in a statement to Hespress English.
He added that “the social mixing from travel and family gatherings during the holidays is likely to strengthen the disease’s spread, with schoolchildren as the primary carriers, transmitting the illness to other groups within the population.”
The expert underscored, “without herd immunity, a return to normalcy will not be possible, and there is a risk of other childhood diseases emerging.”
He added that “as long as less than 95% of the population is vaccinated against measles, the outbreak will continue,” explaining that “immunity can be achieved either through vaccination, saving lives, or through the disease itself, leading however to fatalities, lifelong disabilities, and disrupted educational and socio-economic life.”
Hamdi emphasized that there is a pressing need for investigations to understand the decline in monitoring childhood diseases, vaccination efforts, vaccine, and parental hesitancy.”
“While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and parental vaccine hesitation are real factors, they don’t fully explain the decline in vaccination coverage,” he added.
Official data revealed that 7,633 infections have been recorded in children aged 18 months to 11 years, while 6,429 cases have been confirmed among individuals aged 12 to 36 years.
Adults over 37 account for 2,028 cases, and 1,893 infections have been recorded in infants under 9 months. 1,693 cases have been detected in toddlers between 9 and 17 months old.
Regarding fatalities, the Ministry of Health reports that 42% of deaths have occurred in children under 5 years old, while 24% have been among individuals over 37. The 18 to 36 age group accounts for 15% of deaths, with 12% in children aged 5 to 11 years. Adolescents between 12 and 17 years old represent the remaining 7% of fatalities.
Mohammed El Youbi, Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, previously highlighted that the highest infection rates have been observed in the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima and Fez-Meknes regions, followed by Rabat-Salé-Kénitra.
Casablanca-Settat and parts of Marrakech-Safi have also seen cases, albeit at a lower rate. The outbreak first emerged in the Souss-Massa and Drâa-Tafilalet regions before spreading nationwide.
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