Mothers angry over severe shortage of newborn vaccine

Agadir24

Anger prevails among many mothers and fathers due to the severe shortage of BCG vaccine for newborns in local health centers and public hospitals in a number of cities in the Kingdom.

These people found it difficult to obtain this vaccination, which is part of the national vaccination programme, either due to a shortage or interruption in stock, the absence of nurses, or other reasons, for which the responsible authorities have not issued any clarifications.

According to informed sources, the ongoing strike agenda, in which doctors and nurses are also involved, has cast a shadow over this issue, as it has disrupted families’ schedules linked to specific dates for registering their children in the civil status records.

According to the same sources, these families face problems in registering their children in the civil status, as local community employees and civil status officers require a medical certificate proving that the newborns have received the BCG vaccination related to strengthening the immune system and preventing tuberculosis, in order to register them.

In this case, those concerned resort to pharmacies to obtain this vaccination at a price of up to 65 dirhams, noting that the vaccination system costs up to 150 dirhams, and most of them are provided by the Pasteur Institute.

This comes at a time when the Ministry of Health and Social Protection has not issued any statement regarding the shortage of BCG vaccine quantities, while families are eager to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible, in order to protect the lives and health of newborns and enable them to be registered in the civil status records.