A COVID-19 screening and immunity monitoring campaign was developed by the two partners in collaboration with the Rodolphe Mérieux Laboratory of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Saint Joseph University and PCR and serology (IgG) tests were performed free of charge for nearly 100 beneficiaries.
The context of economic and financial recession since 2019 in Lebanon, the social and political instability, and the explosion of the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis scenario.
During this campaign, many people expressed their gratitude and need for such initiatives: on the one hand, PCR tests, which are mandatory for hospitalization and various medical procedures, and on the other hand, the monitoring of immune status in parallel with the ongoing vaccination campaigns, have become less and less accessible to the vulnerable population given the decrease in their purchasing power.
Thus, the action of the Mérieux Foundation and its partners helps maintain access to diagnosis and encourage prevention and vaccination actions.