Hesitancy over vaccination in Morocco remains substantially high among the eight million people who have access to vaccines but refuse to be vaccinated, in what has come to be a global movement threatening the progress made to combat Covid-19.
By now, every adult in Morocco has had an opportunity to get at least one jab of anti-Covid-19 vaccines, but with eight million people of the eligible population feeding on anti-vaccine rhetoric, the stakes are becoming high for the North African country’s immunization drive.
“I am responsible for my health in front of Allah,” says Naima Abdullah.
Her views are typical of the kind of holistic health rhetoric popular in Morocco but which is now tipping into denialism and skepticism.
The 60-year-old housewife says uneasiness with vaccines she took in her forties led her to “never allow an injection in my veins.”
“I was vaccinated plenty of times and I experienced severe secondary effects that led me to decide I will never get vaccinated again,” she said, explaining that her decision was made before the Covid-19 pandemic emerged.
“Do not cast your own self-destruction,” she adds, referring to a verse from the Quran — using a language familiar to the masses, making the anti-vaxxer message all the more emotionally charged.
But Abdullah is not responsible for her body alone. She is the primary caretaker of her 34-year-old son, Brahim, who suffers from schizophrenia and other mental issues.
A study published in the journal of the American Medical Association in January found that a schizophrenia diagnosis was the second-best predictor of death from Covid-19, after age, fueled by amotivation, social isolation, or stigma.
“A person like him would not be any different from a minor who cannot take decisions,” said Member of the scientific committee on Covid-19, Said Afif, “It is his family that should make the decision for him.”
But with Abdullah unwilling to take the vaccine herself, her son’s chances to get vaccinated are significantly lowered.
“I hope the authorities consider one’s personal choice,” said Abdullah.
Her concerns are shared by 25-year-old Chaima who says a lack of evidence and guarantee that “no harm will come to anyone who gets vaccinated” is driving her reluctance to get vaccinated.
Health professionals agree that any vaccine, medicine, or substance introduced to a body could potentially harm a few. With Covid-19 vaccines, insignificant numbers of blood clots detected in a few cases after millions were vaccinated are one of the main drivers of skepticism.
Chaima uses her Instagram page to “raise awareness about information censored from mainstream media around the world.”
Her page is filled out with sensationalist posts, essentially brimming down to: vaccines are dangerous and you can’t trust doctors.
Like many of the anti-vaxxers “The real question is why should I? To travel? To get a green pass? That shouldn’t be the motivation to get a vaccine. We have noticed that the majority of individuals get their shots for those reasons except for health-related ones.”
A Nature study published earlier this year found that “although smaller in overall size, anti-vaccination clusters manage to become highly entangled with undecided clusters in the main online network, whereas pro-vaccination clusters are more peripheral.”
Anti-vaxxer rhetoric reaches down to people like 18-year-old Hiba, who claims she “heard of so many people who experienced deadly consequences once vaccinated.”
The anti-vaccine movement was included by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its report on the ten greatest risks to global health, and this was before Covid-19.
In the 2019 report, the WHO said “vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent diseases. It currently avoids 2 to 3 million deaths a year, and another 1.5 million could be avoided if vaccine coverage were improved in the world.”
Though refusing to be vaccinated, all the interviewees Hespress English spoke to said they abide by safety measures, including wearing masks and social distancing.
Morocco has not made vaccine passes mandatory, but with rising rates of vaccination, health professionals say vaccine passes could become required for access to public places such as libraries and movie theaters.
Blackmail and coercion will absolutely NOT make someone who is solid in their decision, make a 180-degree move to put anything premature in their bodies. Especially, when you are told it will protect you, you get it, end up in the hospital or are found to be spreading it. That never happened with the conventional vaccines. Something is indeed different now. When governments say we won’t force you, and then they turn around and deliberately attempt to openly exclude you, discriminate against you, and label you in with people that refuse for many different reasons not just one. We wouldn’t need more than two shots they said. Now, people are going on three and four. Recently, Pfizer announced a yearly dose is possible. F off, stop testing on humans! It’s not about health but a dirty money religion that The West and China have forced onto their citizens and emerging nations. The only thing that cannot be denied is: THE INCONSISTENCY OF AUTHORITY AND ENTRUSTED HEALTH OFFICIALS!!
I am so glad to see there are more Moroccans are educated about this , most are ignorant and simply get it because it’s for free and been told is good for them – they were not given a chance to make an informed decision