Rabat – The Moroccan Scientific Committee has validated the administration of a third booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine to high risk populations and COVID frontliners.
This operation will also extend to the elderly. The committee recommends starting with the over-65 age group, but the Ministry’s final decision is still pending.
People suffering from comorbidities will also be targeted. As with the elderly, the age limit will be decided by the Ministry at a later date.
In addition, the scientific committee stated that the third vaccine dose, referred to as a “booster shot,” should be injected at least 6 months after the administration of the second dose of the vaccine.
The majority of health personnel have passed the 6 months mark, considering they were among the first to get vaccinated when Morocco launched its vaccination campaign in January 2021.
Dr. Said Afif, a pediatrician and member of the national scientific committee, spoke on the committee’s decision to media outlets, saying that “the booster shot primarily concerns health sector workers.”
Regarding the nature of the vaccine, Dr. Afif confirmed: “We can switch between different vaccines, as has been allowed in several countries around the world.”
COVID-19 vaccines can be interchanged, he noted, stating that “people who have received two doses of Sinopharm can be injected with a third dose of AstraZeneca vaccine for example, and vice versa.”
The choice of which vaccines will be administered in booster shots will depend on availability.
Morocco is progressively overcoming an alarming third wave of COVID-19 infections, with the unprecedented spike in daily infection and death cases from the past few weeks now appearing to be on the decline.
A large number of health workers have been infected with the Delta variant this summer, as COVID-19 mutants are more infectious and contagious than the original strain.
The necessity of a third vaccine dose for doctors, nurses and health technicians is a step towards limiting disruptions of activity within the health sector, according to many experts.
Hospital bed occupancy remained under 50%, with a steady recovery rate of 93,5%
Morocco’s latest COVID figures show that the country is slowly recovering from the peak of the pandemic as its national vaccination campaign looks set to reach its targets.
Booster shots were first introduced in Israel and Hungary this summer, but now many of the largest nations in Europe, as well as the US, have indicated that they will be offering booster shots in the fall or, in some cases, have already begun administering them.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom, has taken issue with the “widespread use of boosters,” accusing rich countries of promoting a non- essential and of “preventative” dose while poorer countries are still struggling to secure a bare minimum of vaccine batches to fully vaccinate their at-risk populations and frontline workers.
For the WHO president, deepening global inequality in vaccine availability is a major hurdle to global efforts to eradicate COVID-19.
Adhanom has notably called for a moratorium on booster shots at least until the end of September “to allow those countries that are furthest behind to catch up.”
Israel, Hungary and the US have all launched successful booster shot vaccination campaigns.
