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Announcements of vaccines that have been proven effective and safe continue, the latest being the AstraZenka-Oxford vaccine, and in light of scientific-commercial competition, Lebanese Health Minister Hamad Hassan has announced that Pfizer vaccine will be available in Lebanon in February 2021. Among speed, caution and fear, some voices are higher, including the gathering of doctors in Lebanon Warning against “rushing to import the vaccine before making sure of its efficacy and safety”. Faced with this ambiguity, many are asking: Is the Pfizer vaccine better than other vaccines? Does the World Bank pledge to lend to Lebanon to cover the expenses of facing Corona? Can Lebanon provide non-stop electricity around the clock to store the vaccine at temperatures below minus 70 degrees? And from where was Lebanon able to secure the first installment?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMzfumV3R9k
The advisor to the Minister of Health, Dr. Edmond Abboud, in his speech to Al-Nahar, explained that “The Ministry of Health has reserved a site for Lebanon for the” Kovacs “gathering, an initiative established by the World Health Organization in collaboration with UNICEF and the International Federation of Vaccines to guarantee Corona vaccines for all countries regardless of their economic strength and its population.
Lebanon paid $ 4 million and 368 thousand in first payment and seized about two million and 370 thousand doses of the vaccine. The amount was guaranteed by the budget of the Ministry of Public Health, and the 24 million dollars, that is the residual amount, will be guaranteed through a loan from the World Bank.
Similarly, the Ministry of Health negotiated directly with the American company Pfizer, which was the first to produce the Corona vaccine, and had booked nearly 1.5 million doses of the vaccine, and the delivery date would be February 2021. .
There are medical voices rejecting the vaccine, including the doctors meeting that asked them to “not rush to import the vaccine before showing its positive and potential negative results, wondering the percentage benefit from this vaccine, which is confused by its scientific, logistical and financial challenges, and what is the added value our health security will achieve “. Ministry of Health on this medical waste?
According to Abboud, “The Ministry of Health will not introduce any vaccine before it is approved internationally, and since our reference in this matter is the World Health Organization, no vaccines will be imported before being approved by the organization. This explains. the discussions that the Ministry of Health is conducting with the Kovacs group and Pfizer. This is what the Minister of Health stressed in his speech: “In case it gets approved internationally, we will approve it.” If the Pfizer vaccine does not gets approval for any reason, it won’t be imported into Lebanon and other companies will be raided to secure the vaccine.
Who is the first group to receive the vaccine?
Edmond points out that “all scientific and international organizations recommend that the medical sector, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists receive the vaccine as the first base group, and then vaccinate the age groups most vulnerable to complications from the virus. In this regard, the Minister of Health Hamad Hassan has formed a scientific committee that includes people from the Global Health organization, the Medical Syndicate, the Ministry of Health and the World Bank to investigate all logistical issues related to the Corona vaccine, from receipt to storage, and the hierarchy of people who will receive the vaccine.
According to the advisor to the Minister of Health, “the Corona vaccine will be the fastest, safest and most secure way to achieve herd immunity that allows us to eliminate the virus and return to normal life”.
Abboud also points out that “any vaccine that has been approved by the World Health Organization is considered effective and safe. Therefore, there is no preference between one vaccine and another, and the difference between vaccines will be very simple to understand. a scientific point of view, and the difference will be its cost and method of conservation, not its safety and effectiveness “.
Can this test be reliable?
As for the Antigen rapid test, according to the consultant of the Minister of Health, “One of the advantages of this test is that it is fast and gives a result after 15 minutes. Therefore, if the result is positive, it means that the patient is infected. from the virus, but its accuracy is lower than the PCR examination, which means that if it has arrived The result is negative, this does not necessarily mean that the patient does not have Corona.
Therefore, antigen testing helps in some places, especially in hospitals and emergency rooms, especially when an emergency comes to the night emergency. Since we don’t have time to wait for the PCR result, we resort to an antigen scan that guides us quickly. If the result is negative, we re-examine the PCR to ensure that the patient is not infected. The most important thing remains to know that the Antigen test does not replace PCR, which remains the most accurate and safe test for the virus.
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