Sputnik V batch to arrive in Lebanon from UAE on March 25

BEIRUT, March 25. /TASS/. The plane of the Lebanese airline Middle East Airlines will deliver the first batch of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Beirut on March 25, Chairman of the Lebanese-Russian Business Council, Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation in Tripoli Jacques Sarraf told TASS. According to him, the plane will deliver a consignment of the Russian drug that will be used to vaccinate Lebanese citizens against coronavirus. Sarraf noted, this initiative of the private medical sector has been undertaken in coordination with the country’s Ministry of Health." Several batches of a total of 1 mln doses of Sputnik V will be enough at the first stage to vaccinate 500,000 workers of industrial and commercial enterprises, he added. Preference was given to the Russian drug, given its high efficiency, which reaches 91.6%, Sarraf emphasized. The Lebanese Ministry of Health approved the emergency use of the Russian vaccine on February 5. On February 26, it was announced that 20 private firms had been granted the right to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies manufacturing anti-coronavirus drugs. According to the ministry, 13 of them plan to sign contracts for the supply of the Russian-made Sputnik V, and seven more expect to purchase vaccines from Chinese corporation Sinopharm. In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Read more