Morocco National Immunization Program

Morocco's mandatory childhood vaccination program, known in French as the Programme National d'Immunisation, launched in 1981 under the name Extended Vaccination Program and restructured and renamed the National Immunization Program six years later, in 1987. The program raised coverage of children under five with the major childhood vaccines from about 40 percent in 1986 to 91 percent by 1993, and infant mortality from vaccine-preventable disease has since fallen by more than 90 percent under its continued operation. Morocco has eliminated neonatal tetanus and diphtheria through the program and achieved World Health Organization certification of polio elimination in 2001, and today the program maintains coverage above 90 percent for most of its vaccines through a dense national network of health centers that provide the vaccines free of charge, with the vaccination schedule itself periodically revised as new vaccines and booster doses are added.