When Lebanese parliamentarians jumped the queue ahead of him to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, 80-year-old Joseph al-Hajj decided to take legal action against Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.
As a result, Judge Carla Chawah has ordered the health ministry to vaccinate al-Hajj within 48 hours or be fined, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Judge Chawah has added that the ministry would have to pay 10,000,000 LBP for every delayed day after 48 hours.
According to Reuters, al-Hajj argued that he had priory access to the vaccines as per the national vaccination plan. Judge Chawah said that the ministry’s decision to vaccinate the MPs “violated his right to health and life,” reported the same source.
Lebanon’s vaccination plan gave priority to health workers and those over 75 years old. Some of the MPs were not.
The caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan had previously defended his decision to vaccinate the MPs as a show of “appreciation” for their achievement in working quickly to pass an emergency approval law for vaccines in 7 days.
He said that it was not a violation of the national vaccination plan and added that the scandal that caused controversy in the media was “exaggerated”.
However, the scandal almost cost Lebanon its provision of vaccines after the World Bank threatened to suspend its financing.
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