U.S. Donates 613,340 Covid Vaccines to Lebanon

Through the COVAX program, the United States on Sunday delivered a donation of 336,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine to Lebanon to support the continued fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

As a single dose vaccine, this J&J donation can fully inoculate 336,000 Lebanese against Covid-19, the U.S. embassy said in a statement.

"The J&J donation is the first of two donations from the United States; a second donation of 277,340 doses of the Moderna vaccine will arrive later this week, bringing the total U.S. contribution to 613,340 vaccine doses. The J&J and Moderna vaccine doses will support the Government of Lebanon’s National Vaccination Strategy against the COVID-19 pandemic, saving lives, and ensuring Lebanon’s path to economic recovery and long-term stability in its health system," the statement added.

The deliveries of vaccines to Lebanon are part of the U.S. government’s commitment to donate 1.1 billion Covid-19 vaccines to countries most in need.

"Worldwide, the United States has already delivered more than 200 million COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility, with more on the way," the statement said.

"The U.S. government donations were made possible thanks to close coordination between the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, namely Minister Firass Abiad, UNICEF, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)," the statement added.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Lebanon, the U.S. government has allocated over $55 million dollars to Covid-related assistance in order to mitigate the spread of this virus in Lebanon, focusing in particular on vulnerable Lebanese.

"This COVID-related assistance is part of more than $372 million in humanitarian assistance to Lebanon in Fiscal Year 2021, bringing total U.S. humanitarian assistance to Lebanon $2.9 billion since 2012," the statement said.