The Minister of Public Health in the caretaker government, Dr. Hamad Hassan, received the Russian ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Rudakov, and the research focused on ways to bring the Russian vaccine SPUTNIK V to Lebanon, in light of the decision of the Russian Investment Fund to complete cooperation in this field through the Ministry of Public Health directly while encouraging the involvement of private initiatives And the sectoral trade unions, institutions, companies, etc.
During the meeting, Minister Hassan pointed out “the need to speed up the completion of the agreement,” stressing “the importance of taking into account the abundance of vaccines in the first shipments.”
The Ministry of Public Health estimates the need for two million additional doses, after previous agreements that were concluded and according to which more than six million doses were secured as follows: two million and one hundred thousand from Pfizer, two million seven hundred and fifty thousand from Kovacs, and one and a half million from AstraZeneca (in progress).
Hassan
At the end of the meeting, Minister Hassan made a statement in which he pointed out that “the issue of the vaccine formed the main focus of the research, which also included the need to strengthen cooperation in the pharmaceutical industry in light of the strategy of rationalizing and activating the national pharmaceutical industries.”
He explained that concerning the SPUTNIK V vaccine, three propositions were discussed:
First: With the Ministry of Public Health granting the effective and distinctive Russian vaccine permission for emergency use, there were several options. During the past weeks, we tried to import the vaccine through private companies, but it did not work for two reasons: Because there is a decision from the Russian Investment Fund to cooperate only through the Ministry of Public Health, and because the conditions for transporting the vaccine require ensuring temperatures below eighteen degrees (-18), which necessitates the need to monitor Ministry of Public Health for the method of importation, distribution, and vaccination of target groups.
Second: The method of agreeing was discussed, where two possibilities emerge: a direct agreement between the Ministry of Public Health and the Russian Investment Fund so that the ministry can buy the vaccine directly from the fund, i.e. the factory that manufactures the vaccine or conclude tripartite agreements between the ministry and the fund and the owners of initiatives, whether sectoral, union or social. And a municipality. The owners of these initiatives can feed into the account of the Ministry of Public Health at the Central Bank of Lebanon, which transfers the sums to the fund, while the monitoring role of the Ministry of Public Health remains to complete the import and vaccination.
Third: The private sector can have a role at a later stage through the agent of SPUTNIK V in the UAE, but it is not available at the current stage by a decision of the scientific and technical committee at the Ministry of Public Health.
Rudakov
The Russian ambassador explained that the Russian side “helps in distributing the vaccine to various countries according to local laws. The Russian vaccine has obtained permission to use in Lebanon and we have opened the ways for Lebanon to import the vaccine. We support the proposals of the Ministry of Public Health because we believe that it is fully responsible for distributing the vaccine to Lebanon. We discussed with the Minister of Public Health these questions and reached an agreement to implement the necessary steps in the coming days, and we hope to start serious and effective cooperation in importing the Russian vaccine to stop and combat the Coronavirus.
Questions
Regarding the period to accomplish what is required before Lebanon imports the vaccine, Minister Hassan replied: “We are working as quickly as possible. We have previously sent a letter to the Russian embassy, but changing the method of administration and setting up a new strategy for importing the vaccine requires preparing a new and fast message, as we will work within a week or two to conclude the agreement so that it can be done. Then bring in the vaccine, after estimating the number of vaccines that will be agreed upon and the dates for obtaining them. “
Hassan pointed out that “the Ministry of Public Health estimates the need for two million additional doses, as work will be done for the Ministry to buy one million vaccines, and to open the way for initiatives issued by more than one political, social or trade union party to feed the fund and buy the remaining quantities so that these doses are added to Six million doses have been reserved from Pfizer, Kovacs, and AstraZeneca, noting that the agreement with AstraZeneca is in progress. “
Minister Hassan concluded, “hoping that the initiatives will be effective and efficient and help support the Ministry of Public Health’s strategy in protecting the Lebanese society.”
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