BEIRUT — The Health Ministry on Saturday launched a “Pfizer Third Dose Marathon” for people over the age of 50 already vaccinated against COVID-19 to receive a third dose to boost their immunities amid a recent uptick in hospitalizations for the virus.
Here is what we know:
• The Health Ministry’s vaccination drive for people born in 1971 or before runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday across the country at 20 medical facilities.
• At Beirut’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the country’s frontline facility against COVID-19, Health Minister Firass Abiad told the press midday that around 600 people had received vaccinations at the center.
• Abiad, who previously headed the hospital, added that “a vaccination marathon will take place weekly.”
• The Health Minister also warned of the danger of a “large wave of COVID-19 and the inability of hospitals to contain it since they are already under great pressure.”
• In Akkar and Hermel, turnout for vaccines was low as of the morning, according to L’Orient Today’s local correspondents.
• As of Dec. 3, 38.9 percent of Lebanon’s population over the age of 12 has received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 33.2 percent received two doses. Hospitalizations have increased in the past two weeks, with the number of people in ICUs increasing from 196 people on Nov. 20 to 256 yesterday.