Moroccans can't fly out of country without valid vaccine pass, despite eased entry measures

Moroccans wishing to travel abroad through plane are required to have a valid vaccine pass, despite the government easing entry conditions.

Considering the current stable epidemiological situation in Morocco, the Ministry of Health announced this week it will be giving the choice to incoming travelers, of either presenting a valid vaccine pass, or a negative PCR test dating less than 72 hours.

After detailing the conditions of entry, types of vaccines, required doses, concerned age groups and other guidelines, health authorities emitted detailing the protocol for Moroccans wishing to exit the territory.

After contacting the Moroccan Airports Authority (ONDA( offices, Hespress EN learned that “Moroccans wishing to travel from Morocco to other countries are still required to present a valid vaccine pass, regardless of their destination.”

Prior to this finding, authorities had simply stated that “outgoing Moroccan travelers will have to follow the sanitary requirements and guideline of their host countries.”

However, inquiring about the sanitary regulation in Moroccan airports revealed that “the eased measures and document choice is exclusive to individuals wishing to enter the Moroccan territory, while exit conditions have remained unchanged.”

“This is extremely unfair, it makes no sense to tighten exit conditions while easing entry requirements, especially considering that people with vaccine passes can still be positive and bring more infection into Morocco,” said Reda K, a 22 year old unvaccinated Moroccan, who was planning to travel abroad for the summer.

Reda is not alone, many people expressed their confusion and frustration to Hespress EN when finding out that the new eased travel measures exclusively concerned incoming travelers.

“The Moroccan government is prioritizing limiting severe cases, rather than limiting infections among the vaccinated,” said Dr Afif, a practitioner and member of the scientific committee advising the executive on the pandemic.

In an interview, Dr Afif explained the government’s insistence on vaccine passes among its citizens, as a “public safety necessity,” considering the Kingdom’s “limited resuscitation unit capacities.”

This “concern” for manageable COVID-19 cases could be behind the government’s instance on reaching its fully vaccinated population goal, while adopting a more lax approach to non-Moroccans and tourists.

As the executive highly depends on tourism revenues to revive the agonizing sector and inflation-ridden domestic economy, some citizens are viewing such policies as “discriminatory,” while others are once again, branding the vaccination freedom banner.