World Bank threatens to halt funding for Lebanon’s COVID jabs

International lender issues warning after MPs were inoculated inside Parliament in violation of agreement.

The World Bank has threatened to suspend financing for coronavirus vaccines in Lebanon over what it said were violations by legislators who were vaccinated inside Parliament. The comments by the international lender on Tuesday came as frustration grew among some residents and doctors that the national plan that requires people to get vaccinated at predetermined centres could be riddled with violations and favouritism. Lebanon received its first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine – 28,000 doses – this month with financial aid from the World Bank, which said it would monitor to ensure the shot went to those most in need. In its first operation funding the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, the lender reallocated $34m to help Lebanon inoculate more than two million people.