Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Bazri, the head of the vaccination committee, confirmed that "the World Bank is not planning to stop vaccine funding for Lebanon."
In an interview with "Voice of Lebanon," Al-Bazri indicated that "a meeting between Saroj Kumar Jha, the Director of the Mashreq Department at the World Bank, and Minister of Health Hamad Hassan took place to discuss the deviations occurring in the vaccination plan, followed by a meeting with Al-Bazri to record observations." Commenting on the Minister of Health's justifications, Al-Bazri stated, "Hassan's perspective differs from mine," explaining that "the criteria used to determine priorities globally are different from what has been adopted in Lebanon with everyone's approval."
Al-Bazri considered that "what happened in the parliament two days ago tarnished the image that the committee has been trying to portray regarding the vaccination process, transparency, and the adherence to standards and priorities," hoping that this deviation from the scientific recommendations agreed upon by all authorities would not happen again.
The World Bank noted a breach after several members of parliament received the vaccine without coordination with the vaccination committee, prompting Dr. Al-Bazri to label the incident as "an unacceptable violation," threatening to resign from the presidency of the vaccination committee. Meanwhile, the caretaker Minister of Health, Hamad Hassan, responded to the accusations by saying, "He took a sovereign decision and directed the medical teams to the parliament to carry out the vaccination for the MPs in appreciation of their efforts," emphasizing that there was no disregard for the age logic of the MPs and considering the reactions to what happened as exaggerated, noting that the ministerial committee is the one that decides.
