January 21 the World Bank said that it had approved the allocation of 34 million US dollars (about 220 million yuan) to support Lebanon’s coronavirus vaccination efforts.
This is the first time that the World Bank has approved such an allocation.
According to Reuters, Lebanon’s current single-day confirmed cases have soared to the highest level in the region, and the number of confirmed cases reported on the 15th exceeded 6,000, exacerbating the economic and political pressure caused by the financial collapse and port explosions.
It is reported that the redeployment of funds comes from the existing Health Resilience Project in Lebanon, which is the first World Bank-funded operation to fund the procurement of a coronavirus vaccine.
The vaccines procured by this fund will be provided to more than 2 million people.
The vaccine is expected to arrive in Lebanon at the end of February and will be designated to groups such as high-risk medical workers, people over 65 years old, and patients with other diseases between 55 and 64.
Fair, widespread and rapid access to the coronavirus vaccine is essential to protecting lives and supporting economic recovery, World Bank President David Malpas said in a statement.
The World Bank pointed out that before the decision to release funds for health recovery projects, the Lebanese government had conducted an assessment of vaccine preparedness, established a national vaccine committee, and drafted a draft national vaccine deployment plan (National Vacc) based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization. ine Deployment Plan).
According to the report, the World Bank is working closely with more than 100 countries around the world to pave the way for countries to obtain low-interest loans.
Meanwhile, the World Bank is also funding the purchase and distribution of coronavirus vaccines as part of a new $12 billion plan approved last October.
