Lebanon’s Runaway COVID-19 Crisis Will Receive World Bank Funding

The World Bank is reallocating $34 million to support Lebanon’s purchase of COVID-19 vaccinations – the first such use of its funds in order to fight the world pandemic. Lebanon is facing a runaway rate of infection with more than 6,000 cases per day, but with its economy in collapse is unable to fund a campaign to vaccinate its population. The World Bank funding will be used to pay for the preparatory work it requires. In February, 2 million doses of the vaccine will arrive and will first be given to those who are health workers, and to people ages over 65 and 55-64 with co-morbidities. In October, a $12 billion fund was established at the World Bank to help more than 100 countries combat the pandemic.