The Moroccan doctor Najat Tawati described the judicial ruling in her favor for financial compensation against the AstraZeneca vaccine as a fair decision, noting that it followed a marathon trial. In exclusive statements to "Al Arabiya Net," the researcher and university professor Tawati revealed that on February 5, 2021, she received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, after which she felt a tingling sensation and numbness. After a week to ten days, severe symptoms developed, including paralysis in her lower limbs and inflammation that affected her face, leading to impaired movement of her face and eyes.
According to Tawati, she could no longer close her eyes, and she faced difficulties swallowing and speaking, ultimately slipping into a coma and experiencing periods of unconsciousness. Dr. Tawati explained that the medication she was treated with came from the blood transfusion center in the capital, Rabat, but it was expensive, which concerned her, as many simple citizens could not afford the treatment.
The treatment with this costly medication lasted five days, and afterward, she began to feel capable of regaining her mobility and could speak, albeit with difficulty, marking the start of her physical rehabilitation. In the initial stages of her legal battle, Dr. Tawati contacted the World Health Organization, which responded that she needed to investigate whether the vaccine she received in Morocco was obtained through the WHO's vaccine-sharing system or purchased by the Moroccan government from India. If the vaccine was sourced from the vaccine-sharing program, the WHO would need to financially compensate the doctor.
Since the dose she received was from a Moroccan government program to purchase vaccines, the Moroccan academic initiated a lawsuit against the Moroccan Ministry of Health. Regarding her current health condition, Dr. Tawati revealed her inability to return to her normal life, explaining that she tires quickly, cannot stand for long periods, and struggles to speak extensively in front of her students.
As for her professional life, Professor Tawati works remotely with doctoral students and occasionally attends some conferences, expressing that large crowds hinder her ability to concentrate due to her weakness. After long negotiations, Dr. Najat Tawati accepted to share her story of illness caused by a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus and her journey through the Moroccan judiciary. The administrative court in Rabat issued a ruling on May 9, ordering the Moroccan Ministry of Health to pay Dr. Tawati a compensation of $25,000.
