A primary healthcare center in Chiyah, a southern suburb of Beirut, in Dec. 2021. (Credit: Illustration by Marie Jo Sader/OLJ)
The Lebanese Health Ministry announced on Tuesday that it will continue its cholera vaccination campaign for the third consecutive week, following a resurgence of cases in Syria and concerns about the epidemic spreading to Lebanon — as it did in 2022.
A team from the ministry will soon administer the vaccine in the neighborhoods of Amroussieh and Hay al-Sellom in southern Beirut, Halba, Bebnine, and Deir Daloum in Akkar, Bar Elias, Qabb Elias, and Saadnayel in Bekaa, as well as in Ersal (Baalbeck-Hermel), according to a statement.
The vaccine can be administered to anyone aged one year and above, the text read. The ministry has urged residents of the affected areas to get vaccinated, even if they have already done so two years ago during a previous campaign.
The ministry announced that it has administered 133,887 vaccines since the start of the campaign, with financial support from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the German bank KFW, as part of a technical cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. Vaccination is carried out on the ground by 133 ministry teams, in partnership with Médecins Sans Frontières, the Amel Association, and the NGO Medair.
Between October 2022 and January 2023, a cholera outbreak occurred in Lebanon, with 671 confirmed cases and 23 deaths. However, no cases of cholera have been reported this year after tests were conducted on residents of Ersal suspected of having the disease.