Despite the Health Ministry’s announcement that Lebanon will be among the first countries to receive the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine when it’s ready – supposedly early in 2021 – the Doctors’ Association rejects the current vaccine candidates.
In a statement, the association said that it rejects the proposed vaccines “because they are all in the testing phase at the current stage.”
It also said that the public health situation in Lebanon is approaching the worst, “in the absence of prior preparations, the failure to reopen all coronavirus departments in hospitals, and the failure to operate field hospitals.”
The association stressed that, even with the lockdown in place, the health sector’s readiness has not been practically raised after hospitals reached their capacity limits.
This raised fears “of the collapse of the health system, especially with the high number of infections among the medical staff and the inability to receive new patients, as intensive care beds are full.”
The government being late in taking precautionary measures and unstrict in enforcing them, combined with people’s negligence toward prevention, facilitated the spread of the virus, the statement added.
In order to reduce the burden on hospitals, the Doctors’ Association called for the mobilization of doctors across Lebanon, providing them with personal protective equipment and all medical equipment in clinics in all cities and villages.
Moreover, it recommended that medicinal drugs are made available for patients so that they can be treated at home, and making it so that only the severe cases of COVID-19 get hospitalized.
Finally, the order urged the authorities to declare a comprehensive public health emergency and punish violators, as did other countries suffering from the pandemic, while implementing the recommendations of the World Health Organization.
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