Libya launches COVID-19 vaccination drive after delays

Libya launches COVID-19 vaccination drive after delays

TRIPOLI, April 10 (Reuters) - Libya's new unity government launched a long-delayed COVID-19 vaccination programme on Saturday after receiving some 160, 000 vaccine doses over the past week, with the prime minister receiving his jab on live television. While Libya is richer than its neighbours due to oil exports, the country's healthcare system has been strained by years of political turmoil and violence, and it has struggled to cope during the pandemic. Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh called it a "blessed day" in the fight against COVID-19 after receiving his shot, without saying which vaccine he had been given. At least 100, 000 of the doses that arrived this week were Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. Dbeibeh's interim Government of National Unity was sworn in last month after emerging through a UN-facilitated process with a mandate to unify the country, improve state services and oversee the run-up to a national election in December. Dbeibeh's government has framed the delivery of vaccines and the national roll-out as evidence that it is improving the lives of ordinary Libyans after replacing two warring administrations that ruled in the east and west of the country. "Through the political consultations and the efforts of the prime minister,