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Moroccan police have arrested a woman near Inezgane, 12 kilometers south of Agadir, for ineligibly receiving a COVID-19 vaccine injection by using the national identity card of her mother.
The woman, who is under 65 — the current minimum age for regular citizens to receive COVID-19 vaccines in Morocco, went to a local vaccination center and presented herself as an eligible candidate for vaccination.
She used the identity card of her mother in order to persuade local authorities and medical staff that she is over 65.
Suspicions arose because of the woman’s younger looks, leading security services to investigate her true identity.
Preliminary investigations quickly revealed that the woman fraudulently received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Since Morocco launched its national vaccination campaign against COVID-19 on January 28, several similar incidents have occurred throughout the country.
The categories that are currently eligible to receive vaccines are medical staff aged 40 and over, security services, local authorities, and teachers aged 45 and over, and other citizens aged 65 and more.
Many ineligible citizens, however, attempted to “jump the queue” and be among the first people to get vaccinated.
On January 30, Morocco’s Ministry of the Interior detected the vaccination of eight ineligible people in Taza, 120 kilometers east of Fez. The ministry suspended a Qaid (local governor) deputy following the incident.
A couple of days later, on February 2, police in Marrakech arrested a member of the local chamber of commerce for receiving a vaccine injection despite his ineligibility for vaccination.
In another incident on February 3, Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) suspended a security officer in Berrechid, 40 kilometers south of Casablanca, for receiving a COVID-19 vaccine despite being under 45.
