The International community appears as eager as the Lebanese people for an independent and transparent vaccine rollout that will meet the need of the population without favoritism.
Since the announcement of the vaccination plan, there have been doubts among the people, based on their long experience with fraud, nepotism, corruption, and favoritism, that Lebanese officials won’t misallocate or distribute instead the vaccines among their supporters as a priority.
Henceforth, the announcement of the World Bank of independent monitoring of the rollout comes as a relief and reassurance to the people.
The World Bank, which is funding the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Lebanon, issued that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) will closely monitor the process of the vaccine rollout.
“As a neutral independent international organization, IFRC looks forward to working with the World Bank on monitoring COVID-19 vaccine implementation plan to ensure safe handling of the vaccines, as well as fair and equitable access to all,” Hossam Elsharkawi, Regional Director of IFRC announced.
The IFRC explained that its team will monitor mobile data platforms, social media, and call center records, conduct in-person observations, as well as report daily stock count.
The World Bank stressed its commitment to ensuring the strict enforcement of the vaccination plan and “the continuous and stringent monitoring of its implementation to help Lebanon contain the pandemic as promptly and efficiently as possible.”
This development comes as the first shipment of the coronavirus vaccine finally arrived in Beirut on Saturday, containing around 28,000 jabs of the Pfizer-BioTech vaccine.
The vaccines will be stored in the medical refrigerators of the Health Ministry and then distributed to accredited hospitals.
The vaccination campaign will initiate at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) on Sunday, while vaccines will also be administered at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital starting Monday.
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