From CNN's Ben Wedeman in Beirut and Mohammed Tawfeeq in Baghdad
Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab said he would not have the Covid-19 vaccination as planned in order to give priority to the health sector.
The country Sunday kicked off its Covid-19 vaccination campaign, one week shy of the anniversary of the first recorded case of coronavirus there.
Diab on Sunday addressed doctors, nurses and the health sector at Beirut’s Rafik Al-Hariri University Hospital, saying: "In compliance with the program of the National Committee for Vaccination and the schedule, I will not receive the vaccine today, because the priority is for you, the health sector, to which we must provide protection from this danger so that it can continue its mission in order to protect people."
Change of tune: Earlier Sunday, the hospital announced that Diab was first in line to receive Lebanon’s first vaccine, but the PM told CNN’s Ben Wedeman he decided not to do so, in favor of frontline health staff. The first to receive the vaccine in Lebanon on Sunday was the head of the hospital’s intensive care unit, Dr. Mahmoud Hassoun, the hospital spokesperson told CNN.
"You are the unknown soldiers who have been carrying this great burden for a year, and you were at the level of responsibility, and you made sacrifices, and there are those who paid with their lives for this message to protect people from the threat of the deadly epidemic," Diab said addressing the health teams.
"You are before me, and the priority is for you and for everyone to whom the committee's program applies," he said.
Vaccination campaign starts: Lebanon's first shipment of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine landed at the Beirut International Airport early Saturday evening and was received by the caretaker Minister of Health Hamad Hassan.
Vaccines are also administered to staff at the American University of Beirut Medical Center and the Saint George Hospital, which was severely damaged in the August 4 port blast.