Lebanon Asks World Bank to Increase Amount of Vaccines Provided

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan held a meeting Thursday with the Regional Director of the Mashreq Department at the World Bank Group, Saroj Kumar Jha (NNA)
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan held a meeting Thursday with the Regional Director of the Mashreq Department at the World Bank Group, Saroj Kumar Jha (NNA)
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Lebanon Asks World Bank to Increase Amount of Vaccines Provided

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan held a meeting Thursday with the Regional Director of the Mashreq Department at the World Bank Group, Saroj Kumar Jha (NNA)
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan held a meeting Thursday with the Regional Director of the Mashreq Department at the World Bank Group, Saroj Kumar Jha (NNA)

Lebanon on Thursday asked the World Bank to increase its support for Lebanon in the various challenges, especially in terms of increasing the amount of COVID-19 vaccines that are being gradually delivered to the country.

The request was voiced by Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan during a meeting with the Regional Director of the Mashreq Department at the World Bank Group, Saroj Kumar Jha, as they discussed the national vaccination plan against the coronavirus pandemic.

On Thursday, the Ministry said batches of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will arrive in Lebanon starting mid-March.

MP Assem Araji, head of the parliamentary health committee, expected a delay in reaching herd immunity against Covid-19 in Lebanon, especially after the rise in the number of infections over the citizens’ failure to adhere to preventive measures, as well as the state’s failure to aptly implement a gradual lifting of the lockdown.

Speaking to the National News Agency, the MP blamed the increase of daily COVID-19 infections on the limited number of vaccines reaching the country.

“The few batches of vaccines that have arrived in Lebanon do not meet the needs required to vaccinate the largest possible number of people,” he said.

Araji pointed out that the countries that produced the jabs preferred to start vaccinating their own people and that there were about 120 states that haven’t received vaccines yet.

“We are trying our best to import the largest number of vaccines, even with the help of private companies, but unfortunately, we have not succeeded," he explained, citing problems from the countries of origin.

The World Trade Organization has called on countries to pressure companies to increase their production of vaccines, and the UN Security Council has also issued a statement urging justice in distributing vaccines all over the world.

“If we can secure the required number of vaccines to vaccinate 85% of citizens and residents, we will be able to achieve herd immunity by the end of this year,” the deputy added.

Araji said some companies had applied to import vaccines and had received approval from the Ministry of Health, but the producing firms have not heeded their requests yet.

He finally called on citizens to "adhere to preventive measures so that we can control the pandemic,” noting that "the health sector is fully exhausted.”

In the past 24 hours, Lebanon registered 3,518 new coronavirus cases and 50 more deaths.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese authorities are working to prohibit any attempt to sell the COVID-19 vaccines on the black market.

Some private companies and pharmacies are promoting, through social media advertisements, the coronavirus vaccine using the logo of the Health Ministry.

In a statement, the ministry said: “This is a true violation of the law." It warned the people not to trust such ads.



Macron Tells Netanyahu Ordeal of Gaza Civilians 'Must End'

 French President Emmanuel Macron waits to welcome the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region for a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on April 14, 2025. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron waits to welcome the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region for a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on April 14, 2025. (AFP)
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Macron Tells Netanyahu Ordeal of Gaza Civilians 'Must End'

 French President Emmanuel Macron waits to welcome the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region for a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on April 14, 2025. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron waits to welcome the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region for a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on April 14, 2025. (AFP)

France's President Emmanuel Macron told Israel's leader during a phone call Tuesday that the suffering of Gazan civilians "must end" and that only a ceasefire in Gaza could free remaining Israeli hostages.

"The ordeal the civilian populations of Gaza are going through must end," Macron posted on X after the call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He also called for "opening all humanitarian aid crossings" into the besieged Palestinian territory.

The United Nation has warned that Gaza's humanitarian crisis is spiraling out of control, with no aid having entered the territory for weeks.

Palestinian group Hamas said Monday that Israel had offered a 45-day ceasefire if it releases half of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

A Hamas official told AFP that Israel had also demanded that the Palestinian fighters disarm to secure an end to the Gaza war, but that this crossed a "red line".

Macron said he told Netanyahu "the release of all hostages" and the "demilitarization of Hamas" were still an absolute priority for France.

He said he hoped for "a ceasefire, the release of all hostages, humanitarian aid, and then finally reopening the prospect of a political two-state solution".

Macron irked Israel last week when he suggested Paris could recognize a Palestinian state during a United Nations conference in New York in June.

Israel insists such moves by foreign states are premature.

But Macron has said he hopes French recognition of a Palestinian state will encourage not just other nations to follow suit, but also countries who do not recognize Israel to do so.

The creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel is widely seen internationally as the only realistic way to resolve the decades-old conflict. Israel captured Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want all three for a future state. The last serious and substantive peace talks broke down after Netanyahu returned to power in 2009.

A number of European states have recently recognized a Palestinian state in what is largely a symbolic move aimed at reviving the peace process.