Beirut is discussing with Moscow ways to urgently supply Lebanon with the “Sputnik V” vaccine.

The Lebanese Minister of Health in the interim government, Hamad Hassan, discussed with the Russian ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Rudakov ways to urgently supply Beirut with the Russian vaccine “Sputnik V” against Corona.

The “National News Agency” reported that the Lebanese minister met with the Russian ambassador on Wednesday and discussed ways to “bring the Russian vaccine to Lebanon in light of the decision of the Russian Investment Fund to complete cooperation in this field directly. through the Ministry of Public Health promoting the involvement of private and sector initiatives of unions, institutions and companies ”.

Hassan explained that Lebanon is working as quickly as possible to import the vaccine, adding: “We will work within a week or two to reach an agreement so that the vaccine can be brought in, after estimating the number of vaccines to be agreed.” . and the dates for obtaining it “.

He also highlighted the need for an abundance of vaccines in the first shipments to reach Lebanon, at a time when Lebanese health authorities confirmed the country’s need for an additional two million doses, following previous agreements that had been concluded and secured. . more than six million doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.

The Lebanese minister said: “In light of the award of the” effective and distinctive “Russian vaccine, for emergency use, there were several options.

He added: “During the last weeks, we tried to import the vaccine through private companies, but the matter was not successful because there is a decision of the Russian Investment Fund to cooperate only through the Ministry of Public Health and because the conditions for the transporting the vaccine requires a temperature guarantee of -18, which requires the need to monitor the Ministry of Public Health for the method Import, distribution and vaccination of the target groups “.

For his part, Ambassador Rudakov explained that the Russian side “helps to distribute the vaccine to various countries in accordance with local laws, and the Russian vaccine has obtained permission for use in Lebanon and we have opened the ways to provide the vaccine. to Lebanon. We support the proposals of the Ministry of Public Health because we believe that it is solely responsible for distributing the vaccine against the Lebanese people ”.

He continued: “We reached an agreement to implement the necessary steps in the coming days, and we hope to start a serious and real cooperation in importing the Russian vaccine to stop and fight the Corona virus.”

Yesterday, the head of the Department of State Regulation for the Circulation of Medicines in the Ministry of Health of Russia, Philip Romanov, confirmed that the vaccine against the corona virus “Sputnik V” has been registered so far in 27 countries around the world .

Source: “National News Agency” + “Sputnik”