Central Inspection, Lebanon’s main investigative and inspection agency, has published a report on the progress of the country’s national coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination campaign.
According to the report, a total of 1,045,374 people in Lebanon have registered on the dedicated IMPACT webpage to be vaccinated against COVID-19, as of April 2nd.
This is only around 22% of the population that is targeted by the vaccination campaign, which is estimated to comprise 70% (4,760,000 people) of the entire population (6,800,000 people), according to the report.
As for the cumulative number of vaccine shots that have been administered since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, it currently stands at 243,610.
So far, 87,159 individuals in Lebanon have received the second vaccine shot and thus completed their vaccination.
Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign in mid-February, nearly 37% of the people registered on the platform, and who are eligible for vaccination during the first stage of the operation (aged 65+), have received both vaccine shots.
On the other hand, 22% of registrees eligible in the same stage have received only the first dose.
Notable progress in the vaccination process was registered during the 7th week of the campaign when 26,699 people were vaccinated.
This increase has been attributed to the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 29th, as per the report.
Notably, of the people registered to be vaccinated, 7,147 registered with the help of municipalities; the report indicates that 504 municipalities in Lebanon have helped register locals.
Central Inspection notes that 2,497 registered people did not show up for their vaccination appointments on Week 6 and 3,447 didn’t show up on Week 7. Around half of those (51%) were due for their second dose.
The report also mentions that the names of the individuals who have been vaccinated at medical centers and nursing homes have not been added to the online platform yet, noting the necessity of addressing and fixing this issue.
Another problem that Central Inspection points to is the fact that Middle East Airlines (MEA) employees have not been linked to the official platform, whereas individuals who have been vaccinated at the University of Balamand Medical Center have been linked properly.
The IMPACT platform now has a special form that enables people who have been vaccinated to report any side effects they may experience after vaccination.
The same platform allows people who have completed vaccination to receive an electronic vaccination record card.
Finally, Central Inspection has issued some recommendations for the Health Ministry to take into consideration.
The recommendations include:
- Uploading the activity of the vaccine rollout, the distribution of vaccines for medical centers across the country, and related data to the IMPACT platform.
- Clarifying the reason behind the large number of people who were denied vaccination throughout Weeks 6 and 7.
- Clarifying the criteria to be followed by people who have failed to show up for their vaccination appointments for health reasons, and addressing their right to receive the vaccine later.
- Circulating the side effects form, which is advisable to update within 3 weeks after receiving a vaccine dose, so as to enable the collection of the needed medical information to evaluate the vaccine and detect differences between adopted vaccines in Lebanon.
- Coordinating with municipalities to boost their role in contributing to registering their residents on the IMPACT vaccination platform.
In related news, the Lebanese Army announced on Thursday the launch of its COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
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