174,000 people in Lebanon have signed up to receive the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine so far, caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan has revealed.
“So far, 174,000 citizens have been registered on the coronavirus vaccination platform, most of them from Beirut and Mount Lebanon,” Hasan said in a Sunday interview on Al-Jadeed’s W Hallaa Shou? talk show.
“This week, the Ministry of Public Health will launch, in cooperation with the Information Minister Dr. Manal Abdel Samad, a media plan to encourage citizens of the target groups and the most vulnerable to register to receive the vaccine,” he said.
The official confirmed that Lebanon will receive, around mid-March, about 400,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
He noted that media professionals are included in the National Committee for COVID-19 Vaccine’s plan, which entitles them to receive the vaccine in the first two weeks of March, “regardless of age groups.”
Hasan also emphasized that Lebanon is open to adopting new vaccines, “and we will study the files of six companies.”
The national vaccination plan that was launched last week indicated that a little over 2 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would gradually arrive in the country over the course of 5 weeks, starting mid-February.
According to the plan, Lebanese and non-Lebanese residents alike will be able to receive the vaccine free of charge.
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