Beirut (AFP)

A doctor on Sunday became the first Lebanese to receive the anti-Covid vaccine in Beirut, kicking off the vaccination campaign in a country plagued by serious health, economic and political crises.

Mahmoud Hassoun, head of the intensive care unit at Rafic Hariri hospital, the main public institution mobilized in the fight against the coronavirus, was administered the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, according to an AFP journalist on the spot .

"We hope this will be the beginning of the end of this epidemic in the country," he said.

Present at the hospital, the resigned Prime Minister Hassan Diab paid tribute to the "sacrifices" of the medical staff.

"Today is not my turn," Diab, 61, told reporters after reports he would be vaccinated on Sunday.

The first doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine (28,000) arrived Saturday in Lebanon, a country plagued by corruption where leaders are regularly lambasted for disastrous management of public affairs and accused of indifference and inaction.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the World Bank (WB) have announced that they will “independently” oversee the storage and distribution of the first vaccines covered by WB funding.

Hospitals are saturated in Lebanon and the medical sector overwhelmed by the epidemic with 336,992 cases including 3,961 deaths according to the latest official figures.

During the first phase of the campaign, medical staff and people over 75 years old should be vaccinated.

Staff at two other Beirut hospitals are due to receive the vaccine on Sunday.

The pandemic has worsened the difficulties of Lebanese facing the country's worst economic crisis.

Lebanon announced in early February a cautious and gradual easing of containment after more than three weeks of draconian restrictions to stem an explosion of coronavirus cases and relieve saturated hospitals.

Despite the urgent need for government reforms to obtain much-needed international aid, political parties in Lebanon have been stuck for six months in haggling over the formation of the next cabinet.

The current government is managing day-to-day business after its resignation in the wake of the devastating August 4 explosion at the port of Beirut, which left more than 200 dead, more than 6,500 injured and devastated entire neighborhoods of the capital.

© 2021 AFP