Libya Speeds up Efforts to Launch Covid Vaccination Campaign

The Libyan National Center for Disease Control kicks off an awareness campaign on the importance of receiving the Covid vaccine. (Libyan National Center for Disease Control)
The Libyan National Center for Disease Control kicks off an awareness campaign on the importance of receiving the Covid vaccine. (Libyan National Center for Disease Control)
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Libya Speeds up Efforts to Launch Covid Vaccination Campaign

The Libyan National Center for Disease Control kicks off an awareness campaign on the importance of receiving the Covid vaccine. (Libyan National Center for Disease Control)
The Libyan National Center for Disease Control kicks off an awareness campaign on the importance of receiving the Covid vaccine. (Libyan National Center for Disease Control)

Libyan authorities are speeding up their efforts to kick off their COVID-19 vaccination campaign amid an increase in infections and deaths in the country.

Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh launched the vaccination program at the beginning of the week, calling it a "blessed day" in the fight against COVID-19 after he received his first shot.

Head of the Libyan National Center for Disease Control Badr Al-Deen Al-Najjar said that 18 municipalities are now ready to receive the Sputnik V vaccines.

The center has been preparing inoculation centers to meet the required procedures for storing and then giving the vaccines.

Najjar said the center has so far received 253,000 doses of the Sputnik V and AstraZeneca vaccines and is awaiting approval for their use.

He urged people to sign up to receive the vaccine through registering through the dedicated website.

So far, only 450,000 people have registered, but he hoped more would join soon, adding that the Sputnik V vaccine will be given to people under 60, while AstraZeneca will be given to those above 60.

"Sputnik V is the most used vaccine in dozens of countries, has very few side effects and has an efficiency rate of 90%. The center launched a campaign in cooperation with UNICEF to monitor the vaccination process in all of the municipalities." Najjar continued.

Health Minister Ali Al-Zanati said previously the government has so far ordered enough doses to inoculate 1.4 million of the country's more than seven million people.



Members of UK Jewish Group Say Can't 'Turn Blind Eye' to Gaza War

Children gather near a destroyed makeshift shelter following an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia - AFP
Children gather near a destroyed makeshift shelter following an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia - AFP
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Members of UK Jewish Group Say Can't 'Turn Blind Eye' to Gaza War

Children gather near a destroyed makeshift shelter following an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia - AFP
Children gather near a destroyed makeshift shelter following an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia - AFP

Members of the largest organization representing British Jews have said they can no longer "turn a blind eye" to the war in Gaza, adding "Israel's soul is being ripped out".

In a major break with the Board of Deputies of British Jews' policy of supporting the Israeli leadership, 36 of its members criticized the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Gaza in an open letter published in the Financial Times.

"The inclination to avert our eyes is strong, as what is happening is unbearable, but our Jewish values compel us to stand up and to speak out," said the letter, signed by around one in eight members of the Board of Deputies, AFP reported.

"We cannot turn a blind eye or remain silent" about the loss of life since a two-month truce collapsed on March 18, as negotiations over the return of Israeli hostages broke down, the letter added.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

"Israel's soul is being ripped out and we, members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, fear for the future of the Israel we love and have such close ties to," added the letter.

The signatories accused the "most extremist of Israeli governments" of "openly encouraging violence against Palestinians in the West Bank."

"We stand against the war. We acknowledge and mourn the loss of Palestinian life," they added.

A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies told the Guardian that other members would "no doubt put more emphasis on the fundamental responsibility of Hamas for this ghastly situation."

At least 1,691 Palestinians have been killed since the resumption of the Israeli offensive, bringing the death toll in Gaza since the start of the war to 51,065, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry.