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Politicians bypassing COVID-19 vaccination rules could have fallout beyond Lebanon’s borders, experts say

BEIRUT — The ballooning scandal over high-profile Lebanese political figures allegedly jumping the line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine could have ripple effects for vaccine distribution programs...

Abby Sewell, 24 February 2021

Hamad Hassan said in his interview that the Health Ministry is not under international guardianship, adding that he told the World Bank’s regional director for the Middle East that “there are amendments to the [vaccination] plan, and we will implement them”

24 February 2021

In an interview with Télé Liban, caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan defended the administering of COVID-19 vaccines yesterday to MPs, saying the move was not a violation of the national inoculation program

24 February 2021

Lebanon has registered 3,513 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. Sixty-two more people have died, bringing the total death toll to 4,508

24 February 2021

Caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni has instructed the Independent Municipal Fund to pay the full balance of revenues owed to municipalities from 2018, worth LL300 billion, a spokesperson from the Finance Ministry told L’Orient Today

24 February 2021

Thalia Arawi has announced her resignation from Lebanon’s national COVID-19 vaccination committee following breaches in distribution protocols that benefited top politicians. The head of the committee announced he would resign yesterday, but later backtracked

24 February 2021

Abdul Rahman Bizri, the head of Lebanon’s COVID-19 vaccination committee, told Al Jadeed that Parliament had pressured the Health Ministry to supply it with inoculations, adding that his committee had advised the ministry not to comply

24 February 2021

Red Cross monitors were not present for the vaccination of Aoun, his wife and staff, the IFRC says

BEIRUT — The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies was not made aware of the vaccination of President Michel Aoun, his wife and 10 staff members, a spokesperson told...

Ghada Alsharif, 24 February 2021

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elie Ferzli has told a press conference today that 11 MPs aged above 70 years old received the COVID-19 vaccine yesterday at Parliament within “the established mechanism” of the Health Ministry

24 February 2021

Activists are gathering outside the Military Tribunal in Beirut to protest its decision to bring terrorism charges against those arrested during protests in Tripoli last month. The secretive court has brought such charges against 35 protesters, one of their defense attorneys says

24 February 2021

COVID-19 vaccination committee head Abdul Rahman Bizri has said the committee will meet today to discuss yesterday's vaccination breaches and caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan will attend. Bizri added that the inoculation plan does not prioritize people in politics

24 February 2021

Monitors from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies were at Parliament yesterday when MPs and staff got the COVID-19 vaccine, an IFRC spokesperson tells L'Orient Today, saying the IFRC was there to observe and report violations, not to intervene

24 February 2021

MP vaccination scandal, electricity warning, draft law on World Bank loan progresses: Everything you need to know today

Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up . Controversy erupted over MPs from several major political blocs receiving COVID-19 inoculations , which the World Bank said was...

24 February 2021