70% of Moroccan students fully vaccinated as they return to schools

The Ministry of National Education announced on Thursday the official start of the 2021-2022 academic year tomorrow, in all schools and universities as well as foreign missions.

This decision comes as a result of the positive progress of the national vaccination campaign for teens aged 12 to 17 and over as well as the improvement of the epidemiological situation in the country in recent weeks, according to the press release.

Health authorities said they were able to vaccinate 70% of teens aged 12 to 17, or two million 111 thousand and 697 students, representing nearly 3 million before the start of studies on October 1.

482,305 have received the second shot, or nearly half a million, while 30% of students have not yet received their second shot, 54% of students have received the Pfizer vaccine, while 46% have received the Sinopharm vaccine, according to Hespress’received data.

Overall, 41,372,548 have received the anti-Covid vaccine shots, while 22,471,342 Moroccans have received the first shot, representing 75% of the population. During this time, more than 18,923,931 have received the second shot, representing 64% of the target group.

The Ministry of National Education said in a statement that studying this academic year will be in person or remotely, depending on parents’ choice.

Over the past few days, health and education authorities were working closely on convincing parents and tutors students to get them vaccinated before the start of their studies.

The Ministry of National Education said in order to ensure health security, it was working in collaboration with the Health Ministry to update the health protocol.

Recently, the Minister of National Education Said Amzazi announced some easing measures related to the educational system, including the reopening of university dormitories as well as libraries, pointing out a successful academic year requires the reopening of university dormitories.