How to burn the priority to get a vaccine against Covid-19 distributed in a dropper in Lebanon? By benefiting from a political exemption. The controversy has raged since the vaccination, Tuesday February 23, in the Lebanese Parliament, of twenty deputies and officials of the hemicycle, outside the official circuit. The procedure did not take place in an approved center and several of these privileged persons do not meet the age criterion.
Today, you have to be over 75 – or be one of the health professionals most exposed to the coronavirus – to be concerned by the first phase of the vaccination campaign, after registering on a special platform. The program was launched on February 14, with a loan from the World Bank. Some 60,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have reached Lebanon, a bankrupt country where Covid-19 has killed more than 4,500 people.
Speaking Wednesday evening, the Minister of Health, Hamad Hassan, justified the operation as a gesture of “Recognition” of ” efforts “ deputies to vote for the law governing the use of vaccines against Covid-19. Lashing out “Exaggerated reactions”, he recognized at most one “Breach” in the vaccination plan, but refuted accusations of “Violation”. Words that have earned him to be taken to task by his detractors.
Muddy explanations
The regional director of the World Bank, Saroj Kumar Jha, had threatened the day before ” to suspend “ funding in the event of “Confirmation” of a violation. “I invite you all, without exception, whatever your status, (…) to wait your turn “, he said. Angry, Abdel Rahman Bizri, the chairman of the scientific committee for the vaccination against Covid-19, in an advisory role, for his part affirmed that he had obtained guarantees from the Ministry of Health on Monday that there would be no no vaccination in Parliament.
When the first batches of vaccine arrived, the World Bank insisted on the need for transparency, in a country known for its corruption
At the same time as the scandal over the inoculation of deputies erupted, the presidency announced that the head of state, Michel Aoun, 86, his wife and other relatives had received the vaccine. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), mandated to monitor the progress of the vaccination campaign, said it had not been informed of this meeting. As for vaccinations in Parliament, it was the first time that IFRC observers had been called to visit an institution since February 14.
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