Morocco has recorded a significant decline in measles cases, with a reduction of 80.32% over a 16-week period, as announced by Minister of Health and Social Protection, Amin Tahraoui, during a parliamentary question session on Monday.
The minister clarified that the weekly infection rate has dropped to just two cases per 100,000 people, with no reported cases in two regions and only five cases in one other region.
He emphasized that these results are the outcome of a comprehensive national plan initiated by the ministry upon the emergence of the first cases. This plan includes awareness and communication campaigns to highlight the importance of vaccination, countering misinformation related to vaccines, strengthening the epidemiological surveillance system, launching an extensive campaign to catch up on vaccinations for children, and providing resources and logistics to health centers while training medical personnel to enhance their field capabilities.
In parallel, the ministry coordinated with the Ministries of Interior, National Education, and Religious Affairs to ensure the campaign’s success, dispatching field missions to monitor local efforts and conducting regular meetings to evaluate performance.
The vaccination status of over 10.76 million children under 18 years has been verified, achieving a coverage rate of 98.57% of the targeted group. The initiative resulted in vaccinating 586,912 unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children from a total of 754,202 identified, marking an achievement rate of 77.8%. The total doses administered amounted to 702,801, including supplementary and preventive doses.
The overall national vaccination rate has surpassed 95%, which is the threshold recommended by the World Health Organization. The minister reiterated the ministry’s commitment to maintaining these results through ongoing communication campaigns, enhancing the skills of health workers, accelerating the digitization of the vaccination system, and establishing a national digital registry.
