Morocco starts vaccinating children ages 12 to 17

Morocco starts vaccinating children ages 12 to 17
A mother accompanies her son to receive his COVID-19 vaccine as Morocco launches a campaign to vaccinate 12-17 year olds before the start of the school year, in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy

Morocco has launched a campaign to administer COVID-19 vaccines to children from 12 to 17, becoming one of the first African countries to inoculate that age group.

The World Health Organization says that the North African country has already given around 33 million doses to adults this year. Now, Morocco is focusing its efforts to vaccinate .

"I chose to vaccinate my daughter, because we want our children to be able to go to school," said Fattouma Chouilakh, whose 12-year-old daughter studies at a in Rabat.

Parental authorization is required and vaccination isn't mandatory. But those who don't want to vaccinate their children will have to follow a distance education program and their kids won't legally be allowed to attend school in person.

Access to good education—not just concerns over health—is one of the major factors influencing Moroccan parents' decisions for their children.

"We suffered a lot of problems with distance education. There were no positive results—that's why we chose to do the vaccine," Chouilakh said.

Nationwide there are some 420 vaccination centers that have been made available from Tuesday until Oct. 3.

The campaign, which will use Pfizer and Sinopharm vaccines, is expected to reach about 3 million Moroccan students, said.

  • Morocco starts vaccinating children ages 12 to 17
    A teenager receives his COVID-19 vaccine as Morocco launches a campaign to vaccinate 12-17 year olds before the start of the school year, in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy
  • Morocco starts vaccinating children ages 12 to 17
    A girl holds her mother's hand while receiving her COVID-19 vaccine as Morocco launches a campaign to vaccinate 12-17 year olds before the start of the school year, in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy
  • Morocco starts vaccinating children ages 12 to 17
    School students and their parents wait to receive their COVID-19 vaccines as Morocco launches a campaign to vaccinate 12-17 year olds before the start of the school year, in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy
  • Morocco starts vaccinating children ages 12 to 17
    A mother accompanies her son to receive his COVID-19 vaccine as Morocco launches a campaign to vaccinate 12-17 year olds before the start of the school year, in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy

Morocco has registered more than 856,000 infections and 12,540 deaths from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Morocco has administered more vaccine doses per person than the , and the highest proportion in Africa, according to Our World in Data.

© 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Citation: Morocco starts vaccinating children ages 12 to 17 (2021, September 1) retrieved 24 April 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-morocco-vaccinating-children-ages.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Morocco approves use of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

3 shares

Feedback to editors