The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health’s press office issued on Thursday the following statement: 

“After a number of vaccination centers — previously approved by the Ministry of Public Health — called on citizens to directly contact them to obtain the coronavirus vaccine without the need to register through the official COVAX platform or even wait for a date to be set by said platform, the MoPH confirms the following:

1. These calls constitute an outright violation of the Ministry's directives, standards of transparency, and fairness. 

2. The Health Ministry reminds all concerned sides to abide by the directives of the MoPH, especially regarding the adoption of the official registration platform as the sole source for setting dates and not creating special platforms “under the penalty of freezing any existing cooperation with centers violating the terms of the MoPH.”