Minister of Public Health, Dr. Firass Abiad, assured that “the occupancy rate of hospitals for people infected with Coronavirus this year is equivalent to one-third of last year’s rate or even less, and that the difference this year is due to the vaccine,” calling on everyone to “receive the vaccine for his,/her safety and the safety of society.”

Minister Abiad’s words came during his follow-up on the “Pfizer Marathon” campaign on its second day running at the Sidon Governmental Hospital, organized by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the Ministry of Education in order to vaccinate students, teachers, their families and all workers in the education sector.

“We are keen on getting everyone vaccinated, and the good thing about the matter is that those getting the vaccine are of the old age category or those who have chronic diseases,” Abiad said.

He added: “We were able to reach a large number of them, but we are interested in reaching everyone, especially in remote regions, because some areas witness a lower turnout than others, such as Akkar and Baalbek-Hermel. It is important for us to reach everyone in order to protect them, especially since the cost of hospitalization at these times is high.”

Commenting on the demonstration against compulsory vaccination, the Minister of Health said: “The vaccine is not mandatory, but a lot of unscientific talk is observed in this demonstration, and it is unfortunate that we are in a country considered as having a high percentage of educated people yet the speech in this regards is not related to science…On the other hand, there are those who did not take the vaccine and suffer from diseases and smokers who do not adhere to wearing masks, and this alone sends a message about the level of seriousness of the gathering individuals on the issue of public health and safety.”

Source: National News Agency