Covid-19: Lebanon to delay AstraZeneca vaccine inoculations

Lebanon’s ministry of health said on Wednesday it will delay administering the AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine until it is deemed safe by international health organisations.

More than 20 other countries suspended use of the shot after a small number of recipients experienced blood clots.

A batch of the vaccines were due to arrive in mid-March but their delivery has been postponed by the company, caretaker health minister Hamad Hasan told a local radio station.

“The ministry will not take a rushed decision that will endanger citizens’ health,” he said.

Mr Hasan said the ministry would wait until Thursday, when the European Medicines Agency is due to reach a decision on the vaccine’s safety.

Lebanon secured 2.73 million shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the Covax platform, enough to cover 20 per cent of its population. It ordered an additional 1.5 million doses from the company directly.

“There are positive indications that the blood clots are not associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Dr Assem Araji, head of the health, work and social affairs parliamentary committee, said on Twitter. “Only science can decide.”

The slowness of Lebanon’s vaccine programme is prompting concern about a potential resurgence of Covid-19 cases.

The Ministry of Health had promised to vaccinate the majority of the population by the end of the year, but health experts are sceptical this target will be reached.

“At this vaccination rate, it would take us years to inoculate 80 per cent of the population,” said Dr Amin Kazzi, president of the Lebanese Society for Emergency Medicine. “What they consider to be an achievement is just another failed attempt.”

Dr Firass Abiad, manager of Beirut’s public Rafik Hariri University Hospital, issued a warning of an increase in admissions and deaths after an “upward trend and impending wave” of cases.

Hospitals are bracing themselves for another Covid-19 surge, similar to the one that brought the health sector to its knees in January after Christmas and New Year celebrations.

"Capacity is not just about beds," Dr Kazzi told The National. "You need nurses and physicians to take care of the patients, and those are leaving the country."

Dr Kazzi said 30 per cent of healthcare workers have already left Lebanon, while 20 per cent are in the process of leaving. Compounding crises have made it increasingly difficult to sustain a living in Lebanon.

On Tuesday, March 16, the Lebanese pound recorded a new low on the market, trading at 15,000 to the US dollar.

Sporadic protests broke out in several areas as people took to the streets in protest against their dire living situation.

To curb the spread of the virus, a lockdown is needed – but unaffordable.

ESCWA, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, said more than half of Lebanon’s population is trapped under the poverty line.

The Lebanese pound has lost nearly 90 per cent of its value in the past year, while food prices increased by more than 400 per cent, Bloomberg reported.

Lebanon’s most vulnerable groups have borne the brunt of the crisis alone, with no safety net or financial aid from the government.