No jab, no job: Moroccan justice ministry to ban its unvaccinated employees from workplace

The Moroccan Ministry of Justice has banned unvaccinated and unboosted ministry employees from working.

The Ministry's decision issued on Tuesday said a precautionary approach has been adopted for accessing workplaces in public buildings, with employees working in these facilities now obligated to prove their vaccination status.

The vaccine pass must include the booster dose done for those who received their second jab four months ago or more.

All the ministry’s employees who are eligible for vaccination but fail to respect the new mandate within seven days of its issuance will be treated as deliberately absent from work, added the official document.

The Ministry said the new mandate aims to ensure the safety of its employees and the continuity of work in its offices, amidst a surge of covid cases in the country.

The Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform issued a similar decision last week, according to local media. 

“Vaccination is not mandatory,” “this is totalitarianism,” “we need to take to the streets to protest this unfairness,” and similar comments were seen on Moroccan social media with many users accusing the government of provoking the people with “uncalculated and unfair decisions.”

The Justice and Development Party MP Abdellah Bouano, who claimed the mandate will soon extend to all employees in the coming days, accused the government of taking the country down “a dangerous road,” calling on the PM to issue a clear and detailed law to be discussed in the parliament before going forward with any vaccine mandate within workplaces.

In October last year, Morocco mandated the vaccine pass in public and private places. Accusing the government of invading personal freedoms and human rights, hundreds of Moroccans took out the street to protest October’s mandate, including the unvaccinated leader of the opposition socialist party Nabila Mounib, who was banned from attending the parliament's sessions following the decision.

In mid-December, Moroccan minister of Justice Abdellatif Ouahbi banned unvaccinated lawyers from entering courts, following an agreement with the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Superior Council of the Judicial Power (CSPJ). 

The decision paralyzed Moroccan courts for about a month, as Moroccan lawyers boycotted trials and protested the ban that “did not take into account the independence and the specific circumstances of the profession of lawyer."

The standoff ended when Ouahbi decided to appoint employees from the courts to verify the vaccination status of lawyers instead of police officers.

After four months of mandating the vaccine pass in Morocco, just under 63 percent of Moroccans have so far had two vaccine doses. Only 4.8 mln have received a booster jab. 

The health ministry, which aims to reach a vaccination rate of 80 percent to achieve herd immunity, has blamed disinformation on social media for Moroccans’ reluctance to get vaccinated.