clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to receive free covid vaccine

January 27, 2021 at 9:48 am

Workers disinfect the Wavel camp for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, on April 22, 2020 [AFP via Getty Images]

The General Director of Association 302 to Defend Refugees Rights, Ali Huweidi, welcomed the Lebanese government’s decision to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon free of charge and described it as “a step in the right direction”.

In an interview with Quds Press, Huweidi said this was the result of a meeting between Lebanese Minister of Health Hamad Hassan, a UNRWA delegation, and a representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“The vaccination process will take into account the criteria set by the WHO, starting with the health field workers followed by the elderly,” he said.

The Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, Claudio Cordone, said in an earlier statement that the Palestinian refugees will be included in the Lebanese coronavirus national vaccination drive, free of charge, similar to the Lebanese people and those residing in the country in accordance with WHO standards.

Cordone added that the UN agency would cooperate with the Lebanese state to establish vaccination centres close to Palestinian camps and residential communities in Lebanon.

READ: UNRWA absent from suffering of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon