Lebanon launched its Covid-19 vaccination drive yesterday with jabs for healthcare workers and the elderly, in a bid to rein in the pandemic amid a deepening economic crisis.
The country has been under lockdown since mid-January, after an unprecedented spike in cases blamed on holiday gatherings forced overwhelmed hospitals to turn away patients.
Medical workers and those aged over 75 were the first to receive Pfizer/BioNTech shots at three major Beirut hospitals, a day after a shipment of 28,500 doses arrived at the capital’s airport. The World Bank has allocated $34mn to inoculate an initial 2mn of Lebanon’s 6mn inhabitants.
“Finally there’s a glimpse of hope that things will get back to normal,” said medical student Dana Chatila, who was waiting in her white lab coat and mask outside the American University Medical Center, where she works in the emergency department.
“It’s going to take time of course, but the darkness is ending.” The pandemic has compounded the woes of a country battling a dire economic crisis and still reeling from a massive port explosion last summer that killed more than 200 people and destroyed swathes of the capital Beirut.
More than half the population lives in poverty and rights groups have warned millions will struggle to survive without help if coronavirus restrictions last too long.
Caretaker prime minister Hassan Diab said: “We hope to reach adequate community protection so life can gradually return to normal in Lebanon as soon as possible.” The first jab was given to Mahmoud Hassoun, head of the intensive care unit at Rafik Hariri Hospital, which has been at the forefront of battling the outbreak.
“Hopefully this will be the beginning of the end of this plague in the country,” he said.
The second to roll up his shirt sleeve in front of the cameras was popular Lebanese comedian Salah Tizani, 93, known by his stage name Abu Salim.
“I’m telling everyone to come and get vaccinated,” he said.”Better to get vaccinated than to be knocked down by this deadly virus.”