Lebanon receives first COVID vaccines

Lebanon receives first COVID vaccines

BEIRUT “” Lebanon on Saturday received its first vaccines against the coronavirus, a day before an inoculation drive kicks off in the crisis-hit Mediterranean country.

A plane landed at the Beirut airport, an AFP correspondent reported, with authorities saying it was carrying 28,500 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech flown in from Belgium.

The shipment was the first after the World Bank allocated $34 million to inoculate 2 million of Lebanon's 6 million inhabitants.

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan was on the tarmac to welcome the plane and expressed great "relief".

"It's a dream being realised today thanks to the support of our UN and international partners," he told reporters,

"The vaccine will reach all Lebanese citizens across the country," as well as Syrian and Palestinian refugees and other residents, he promised.

Lebanon has been under strict lockdown since mid-January, after an unprecedented spike in cases blamed on holiday gatherings that forced overwhelmed hospitals to turn away patients.

Vaccination rollout is set to start on Sunday.

Health workers will receive their first dose at the Rafik Hariri Hospital, the country's main public hospital tackling the COVID-19 outbreak, the American University of Beirut Medical Centre, and Saint George Orthodox Hospital.

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