It hasn’t been a week since the national vaccination rollout took off in Lebanon, and the process has already grown messy with some hospitals disregarding the required health ministry’s plan for registrations via the government’s electronic platform.
Instead, these hospitals have been making direct calls to people they know to register with them for vaccination.
In response, the Health Ministry issued a statement emphasizing that the only mandatory way to register for the COVID-19 vaccine was through the governmental “IMPACT” platform.
“These calls by the hospitals constitute a violation of the ministry’s directives and the transparency and fairness set by the national vaccination committee,” the ministry’s statement said.
The hospitals violating ethical standards are disturbing the vaccination process, as multiple registration methods can affect tracking and fair monitoring.
That’s in addition to giving the vaccine to people who are not in the first-priority phase, like the front-line health workers and the elderly over the age of 75.
Lebanon on Saturday registered 40 new coronavirus-related cases, bringing the total number of cases since the virus was first detected in the country in late February to 353,371, according to the Health Ministry.
The total number of fatalities stands at 4,297.
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