Lebanon receives Russian vaccines imported by non-public sector

Lebanon on Friday obtained a primary batch of Russian vaccines imported by the non-public sector to assist pace up the vaccination marketing campaign in opposition to coronavirus within the small nation hit by an unprecedented financial disaster.
Some 50,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine arrived at Beirut airport round midnight, making Lebanon certainly one of few nations the place the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is being boosted by non-public sector initiatives.
Lebanon, a tiny nation of six million individuals together with round a million Syrian refugees, started its inoculation marketing campaign in mid-February after finalizing a deal for some two million doses with Pfizer.
According to Lebanese Health Ministry, the nation has to date obtained 224,640 Pfizer-BioNTech doses over the previous six weeks with practically 100,000 doses already administered. Lebanon’s authorities additionally started receiving AstraZeneca vaccines this week, with 33,600 doses that arrived on Wednesday.
The Pfizer vaccines are funded by the World Bank whereas AstraZeneca vaccines are offered underneath the U.N.-backed COVAX program.
Lebanon is at present within the grips of the worst financial and monetary disaster in its trendy historical past, which has been exacerbated by the lockdown measures associated to the pandemic. Tens of 1000’s have misplaced their jobs and the native forex has misplaced 90 per cent of its worth in opposition to the greenback, resulting in inflation and shortages in meals merchandise and medicines.
According to the World Bank, greater than half the inhabitants is now dwelling underneath the poverty line.
Jacques Sarraf, a Lebanese businessman and head of the Lebanese Russian Business Council, stated he hoped the import of the Russian vaccines would assist safely reopen companies across the nation.

“Our first target will be private companies, factories, banks and this is important to reactivate institutions,” he instructed The Associated Press in an interview.
Sarraf, who performed a serious function in bringing the Sputnik V vaccines to Lebanon, stated precedence will probably be given for workers at corporations and enterprise establishments.

Sarraf stated Lebanon will probably be receiving between 100,000-200,000 doses each three weeks till the 1 million is reached.