It's all in the details: A call for administering the COVID-19 vaccine in Lebanon through a transparent and un-politicized collaborative approach

Lebanon is a small low-to middle-income country located in the Eastern Mediterranean whose history is rife with conflicts and political corruption that compromised, and are currently threatening, its stability and development [1]. Two recent events significantly exposed decades of inherent corruption and its dysfunctional system: a severe economic crisis that is arguably the worst since the 1930s Great Depression, and the tragic Beirut Port explosion which resulted in hundreds of thousands of damaged homes, thousands of injuries, and hundreds of deaths [2]. While struggling to cope with these crises and while operating under an overstretched healthcare system, Lebanon is additionally burdened with the spread of COVID-19. Similar to many other countries, Lebanon has been facing exponential surges of cases in recent months [3]. However, this has been exacerbated by inadequate handling of the pandemic response at different levels, including poor lockdown decisions and enforcement, inefficient health system responses, limited facilities upgrade to manage expected hospitalization, and poor governmental coordination among others [2,4]. In midJanuary 2021, the Lebanese Government finalized the regulatory requirements to import vaccines, albeit in limited amounts, after unproductive debates on waiving liabilities associated with potential adverse events [5]. The major challenge in 2021 for Lebanon, along with the economic and stability challenges, is to ensure a fair, clientelism-free, and transparent allocation of vaccines. At the time of preparing this commentary, Lebanon remains in a state of emergency, and in a race against time, given the rate at which COVID-19 is mutating and causing serious damages [6]. Despite that, the national governmental response has been inadequate, as demonstrated by increases in infections and death rates, and by lack of transparency with regards to its response strategy during the past year. This has reverberated across the healthcare system, causing