Lebanon Begins COVID-19 Vaccinations
The first COVID-19 vaccinations arrive in Lebanon after months of waiting. (Nature.com)
Lebanon has finally begun vaccinating its population against the COVID-19 virus after Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced at the end of 2020 that the country had reserved almost 2 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The first 28,500 doses arrived in Beirut on February 13, with medical staff first in line to receive it.
Mahmoud Hassoun, the head of the intensive care unit at Rafik Hariri Hospital just outside of Beirut, received the first dose in the country. The next was administered to 93 year old comedian Abu Salim; the vaccination was televised to mitigate public fears surrounding the vaccine.
Currently, all healthcare workers and people over the age of 75 are eligible to receive the vaccine. The government has also emphasized that the vaccine is not solely reserved for Lebanese citizens; Palestinian and Syrian refugees are also eligible.
In hopes of streamlining the distribution process, Lebanon launched a COVID-19 vaccination portal at the end of January, allowing people to preregister for the vaccine and determine their eligibility. Since its launch, the website has experienced heavy traffic with approximately 2,000 new visitors every five minutes.
According to Hassan, more than 450,000 people have preregistered for the vaccine. This includes approximately 17,500 healthcare workers and 45,000 people above the age of 75. Lebanon has prioritized an inclusive vaccine rollout, which is monitored by both the World Bank and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Even with the government’s efforts, Human Rights Watch has suggested that oversights persist in the distribution of the vaccine, with accessibility proving the largest issue. According to Health Minister Hassan, 80 percent of the population should be vaccinated by the end of 2021, but the Lebanese government has suggested that it will only purchase enough doses for just under 50 percent of the population. Additionally, many vaccination sites have revealed that they have received no guidance from the government on the future trajectory of the rollout.
Despite these concerns, this initial shipment of vaccines is a light at the end of the tunnel for those living in the harsh conditions of the pandemic in Lebanon. The country has been under 24-hour curfew for almost a month after a large post-holiday spike in cases. For a country that is still recovering from a massive explosion in Beirut, unprecedented currency devaluation, and bouts of poverty exacerbated by COVID-19, the arrival of vaccinations promises to ameliorate the dire situation.