by AFP -- BEIRUT: Lebanon kicked off Covid-19 vaccinations Sunday with jabs for health care workers and the elderly in an inoculation drive it hopes will keep the outbreak in check amid a deepening economic crisis. The country has been under lockdown since mid-January, after an unprecedented spike in cases blamed on holiday gatherings forced overwhelmed hospitals to turn away patients. Medical workers and those aged over 75 were the first to receive Pfizer/BioNTech shots at three major Beirut hospitals, a day after a shipment of 28,500 doses arrived at the capital’s airport. The World Bank has allocated $34 million to inoculate an initial two million of Lebanon’s six million inhabitants. “Finally there’s a glimpse of hope that things will get back to normal,” said medical student Dana Chatila, who was waiting in her white lab coat and mask outside the American University Medical Center where she works in the emergency department. “It’s going to take time of course, but the darkness is ending.”

The pandemic has compounded the woes of Lebanese, who are struggling with a dire economic crisis and still reeling from Beirut’s massive port blast last summer that killed more than 200 people and destroyed swathes of the capital. More than half the population lives in poverty, and rights groups have warned millions will struggle to survive without help if coronavirus restrictions last too long. Caretaker prime minister Hassan Diab said: “We hope to reach adequate community protection so life can gradually return to normal in Lebanon as soon as possible.” The first jab was given to Mahmoud Hassoun, head of the intensive care unit at Rafik Hariri Hospital, which has been at the forefront of battling the outbreak. “Hopefully this will be the beginning of the end of this plague in the country,” he told AFP. The second to roll up his shirt sleeves in front of the cameras was popular Lebanese comedian Salah Tizani, 93, known by his stage name Abu Salim. “I’m telling everyone to come and get vaccinated,” he said. “Better to get vaccinated than to be knocked down by this deadly virus.”

by Bloomberg Dubai -- Lebanon’s annual inflation rate reached a record high and food prices soared by up to 400% in December, highlighting the dramatic impact on consumers and businesses of the country’s worst financial crisis in decades. Annual inflation was 84.9% in 2020, compared to just 2.9% a year earlier, according to data released by the government’s Central Administration of Statistics on Thursday. It’s the highest since 2013, when the current readings began. Consumer prices jumped 145.8% in December versus the same month of 2019.

By NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanon has launched an urgent coronavirus vaccination rollout following the arrival of the first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport. The consignment of 28,500 vaccines arrived from Belgium and was transferred to the Ministry of Health for storage and distribution to approved medical centers and hospitals. Medical and nursing staff as well as paramedics working in coronavirus departments in the country’s hospitals will be among the first to be treated when the rollout begins on Sunday. About 150 people will be vaccinated in three hospitals in Beirut, with the number expected to increase to between 300 and 400 per day by next week in 17 centers across the country. At least 57 vaccination centers are expected to be operating within three weeks. Care homes for the elderly will also be included early in the vaccination program, Reda Al-Mousawi, media adviser at the Ministry of Health, said.

Lebanese hospitals have struggled in the past year amid the country’s acute financial crisis and some of the region’s highest coronavirus infection rates. The total number of virus cases in Lebanon reached 334,086 and 2,462 deaths. Dr. Abdul Rahman Bizri, an infectious disease specialist and head of the National Committee for the Administration of Corona Vaccine, told Arab News that the first people to receive the vaccine will be identified by the three hospitals, which will begin vaccinations on Sunday. “I have not been informed that the president, parliamentary speaker and the prime minister will be first to receive the vaccine,” he added. Bizri said that hospitals have rehearsed their vaccination procedures before opening their doors next week. “We have learned from the mistakes of the Americans and French, and are trying to avoid the same issues,” he said.

By NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has again held talks with President Michel Aoun during his unexpected visit to Baabda Palace, which did not result in any progress to form a new government. Following the meeting, Hariri said that after his visits to Turkey, Egypt and France, he sensed enthusiasm for forming a government through the roadmap drawn up by French President Emmanuel Macron, which Lebanese political parties agreed to at the Pine Residence on Aug. 6, 2020, in order to save Lebanon, stop the deterioration and rebuild Beirut Port.

From Baabda Palace, he warned that “without a government of specialists non-affiliated with political parties, we cannot undertake the task of saving Lebanon.” He added: “If anyone thinks that if this government includes political members, the international community will open up to us or give us what we want, he would be wrong. The basic idea is to form a government that includes specialized ministers who do not irritate any political team and work only to complete the project presented to them.” He noted that he consulted with Aoun: “We made no progress, but I explained to him the importance of the golden opportunity that we have, so we must accelerate the formation of this government, and every political team must bear the responsibility of its stances from now on.” Hariri insists on forming “an 18-minister government made up of specialists,” and he reiterated his rejection of a blocking third: “This will not change for me.” The political discord between Hariri and Aoun had escalated after Aoun accused Hariri of being a “liar” in a leaked video of a meeting between the president and caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Jan. 11.