Lebanon has registered about 337,000 cases of coronavirus and 3,961 deaths since the country’s first registered case in February last year. More Pfizer doses are scheduled to arrive over the coming weeks and at a later stage AstraZeneca shots will be brought in, according to Abdul-Rahman Bizri, head of the national committee on COVID-19 vaccines. The World Bank said last month it approved $34 million to help pay for vaccines for Lebanon that will inoculate over 2 million people. World Bank Regional Director Saroj Kumar Jha told reporters in a virtual news conference in late January that Lebanon will import 1.5 million doses from Pfizer vaccines for 750,000 people “and this we are financing in full.” The World Bank will also help in financing other vaccines. The World Bank and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies signed an agreement on Saturday for independent monitoring of Lebanon’s coronavirus vaccination campaign.

Source: Egypt Independent February 13, 2021 18:22 UTC