Morocco may administer additional booster shots in the next years in the event of emerging breakthrough infections, said Azzedddin El Ibrahimi, member of the national scientific committee.
He said the country’s national vaccination campaign will most likely be limited to three doses of vaccine until December 2021, speaking at the sidelines of a debate around the vaccine pass, held today in the national council of human rights in Rabat,
“When we ask about the booster shots, we should frame the question chronologically. For this year I guess three shots are enough. However, for the next few years, I think we will keep getting booster shots against COVID-19 yearly as we do against the flu,” he said.
The Moroccan health expert said certain side effects to vaccine intake were predictable, adding that plans are underway to follow up with vaccinated citizens who experienced intense side effects after getting their jabs.
“We passed the period of fear in the first months of the pandemic, now we are in the period of doubt and suspicion towards the jabs’ effects. And that’s why we are here, to restore the trust,” El Ibrahimi added, “maybe we don’t communicate well, maybe the ministry doesn’t communicate well, but we are doing our best to move forward, and thankfully the Moroccan vaccination campaign has been successful so far.”
He said the ongoing debate on the vaccine pass should redirect attention from the imperative of restrictions and obligation towards a more scientific approach. “We shouldn’t let people who aim to fight the concept of vaccination dominate the discussion,” added the health expert, saying the question to be asked is “what’s the difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated people?”
“Unvaccinated people are most likely to transfer infections by 5 to 6 times, unvaccinated citizens go to the emergency after [the covid-19 infection] 11 times more than the vaccinated, unvaccinated people die, unfortunately, 11 times more than the vaccinated,” said El Ibrahimi.
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