BEIRUT: Lebanon kicked off Covid-19 vaccinations Sunday with jabs for health care workers and the elderly in an inoculation drive it hopes will keep the outbreak in check 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 $34 million to inoculate an initial two million of Lebanon’s six million inhabitants.
Lebanon kicks off COVID-19 vaccine rollout February 14, 2021 at 1:15 pm | Published in: Coronavirus, Lebanon, Middle East, News
In this photo illustration taken in Ankara, Turkey on December 28, 2020 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine logo is displayed on a screen with a syringe in the front [Ali Balıkçı - Anadolu Agency] February 14, 2021 at 1:15 pm
Lebanon s national vaccination campaign against the coronavirus pandemic began Sunday,
Anadolu Agency reports.
Mahmoud Hasson, the head of the intensive care unit at the Rafik Hariri Hospital in Beirut, and actor Salah Tizani, 93, received the first shots.
Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and Health Minister Hamad Hassan were present during the inoculation.
COVID-19 concerns continue around the world. | Photo: MGN WDIO
Brazil awaits vaccine cargo from India amid supply concerns.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Brazil’s government is eagerly awaiting the arrival of 2 million doses of coronavirus vaccine from India. The announcement shipment as public health experts are sounding the alarm over insufficient supply in South America s biggest nation. Neither the government s Fiocruz Institute nor Sao Paulo state s Butantan Institute have yet received the technology from their partners to produce vaccines domestically and instead must import the active ingredient.
There are only about 10 million doses available at the moment, and Brazil s government is estimated to need that many just to cover front-line health workers in the nation of 210 million people.
12 Jan 21
We know it s been a hard year. The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly changed life for us all here in Ireland, while our own teams working around the world have faced tough challenges responding to complex and chaotic humanitarian events.
Our Maternity Wards
But, amid the gloom, there is always a reason to find hope. And that feeling is rarely felt more so than inside our maternity wards. From four MSF hospitals – in Lebanon, Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan – meet some of the first babies born into our care in 2021.
Lebanon
In Lebanon, baby Ibrahim was the first baby of the year born at MSF’s Mother and Child Care Centre at Rafik Hariri Hospital in Beirut. He arrived at 6:05 am on New Year s Day, weighing 3.3 kg. His mother is Razan Dekmak.