World Bank Supports First COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout in Lebanon
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US$34 million in emergency financing will provide access to vaccines for over 2 million people in Lebanon
BEIRUT, January 21, 2021 - The World Bank today approved a re-allocation of US$34 million under the existing Lebanon Health Resilience Project to support vaccines for Lebanon as it faces an unprecedented surge in COVID-19, with record-breaking numbers of around 5,500 daily confirmed cases since the beginning of the year. This is the first World Bank-financed operation to fund the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. The financing will provide vaccines for over 2 million individuals. The vaccines are expected to arrive in Lebanon by early February 2021.
The World Bank today approved a re-allocation of US$34 million under the existing Lebanon Health Resilience Project to support vaccines for Lebanon as it faces an unprecedented surge in COVID-19.
World Bank Provides Lebanon With $34M To Buy Vaccines Joshua Shuman 01/21/2021
As new infections rise in the region, Jordan announced that it is vaccinating refugees alongside the rest of the population
The World Bank approved $34 million in emergency financing to Lebanon to allow the country to purchase vaccines against the coronavirus.
Under a reallocation of funds from the Lebanon Health Resilience Project, which was launched in June 2017 to shore up the Eastern Mediterranean country’s struggling health care sector, the funds will provide the country with the ability to obtain enough vaccine doses for over two million people.
This the first time the World Bank has financed a program to fund the purchase of vaccines for a sovereign state.
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Lebanon will extend its lockdown for a further two weeks as it battles to keep its health system from collapsing in the face of record coronavirus deaths.
The lockdown, which includes a general 24-hour curfew, and the closure
of all shops other than for deliveries, was introduced last Thursday for an initial
11-day period. It will now last until February 8.
Though Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International airport remains open, it has reduced flights by
The country has repeatedly registered record coronavirus deaths in the past two weeks. On Wednesday, 64 people died of the virus, while
4,332 cases were registered.
Firass Abiad, director of the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the largest public hospital in Beirut, took to Twitter to warn that not extending the lockdown could result in calamity.
Thursday, 21 January, 2021 - 06:30
Members of the Lebanese security forces check citizens documents at a COVID-19 checkpoint near the coastal town of Safra on the Tripoli-Beirut main highway on January 19, 2021, as Lebanon enters a second week under lockdown aimed at preventing the country s creaking healthcare system from collapsing. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP) Asharq Al-Awsat
The World Bank announced Thursday it will put $34 million into a program to provide coronavirus vaccines for more than two million people in Lebanon, which is experiencing a major surge in Covid-19 cases, marking the first such outlay of funds by the Bank. This is the first World Bank-financed operation to fund the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, the Washington-based institution said in a statement.