Health Security: On the occasion of World Immunization Week, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection reminds that adherence to the national vaccination schedule is essential to ensure sustainable individual and collective immunity.
Morocco celebrates, like other countries in the world, World Immunization Week from April 20 to 24, 2026, under the theme “We love our children, with vaccination, we protect them”. The celebration of this week is an opportunity to emphasize the importance of vaccination, considered one of the most effective investments in health, an essential pillar of primary health care, and a fundamental right for the protection of children’s health, while also contributing to ensuring the health security of our country.
In a statement, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection states that “this national commitment is strengthened by the High Solicitude of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist him, allowing the Kingdom of Morocco to occupy a position of reference in terms of child health protection, in accordance with the provisions of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, guaranteeing every citizen access to quality preventive services”. In order to realize this enlightened vision, the National Immunization Program continues to mobilize all its resources to ensure optimal health protection for the population.
In this regard, it ensures the free provision of vaccines and their continuous availability to prevent twelve targeted diseases, while relying on a regularly updated national vaccination schedule based on the recommendations of the national technical and scientific advisory committee. This program also ensures to accompany epidemiological developments at national and international levels, through the continuous adaptation of the health system to scientific advances and current health challenges, in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the response and ensure the sustainability of health protection. In this context, the Ministry emphasizes that the success of this preventive approach and the achievement of its objectives are closely related to the effective and responsible involvement of all components of society. Adherence to the national vaccination schedule is an essential lever to ensure sustainable individual and collective immunity. The Ministry also emphasizes the importance of being vigilant and fighting against false information and rumors that may have a negative impact on children’s health and compromise prevention efforts. Finally, it reiterates its call to all citizens, health professionals, and various partners, to continue their mobilization and active commitment to ensure the success of this major health event, contributing to the promotion of a culture of prevention and the protection of the health of future generations.
It is worth noting that in Morocco, the national vaccination program targets 12 diseases: tuberculosis, viral hepatitis B, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type B, rotavirus diarrhea, pneumococcal infections, measles, rubella. This program was reinforced in 2010 by the introduction of two vaccines against rotavirus and pneumococcus. Morocco introduced the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into its National Vaccination Program in October 2022, mainly targeting 11-year-old girls to prevent cervical cancer. The vaccine used is generally the quadrivalent (Gardasil®), administered in two doses spaced 6 months apart.
