BEIRUT (Xinhua) – A national vaccination campaign against cholera has been launched in northern Lebanon, which was hit hard by the disease over the last several weeks, the health ministry announced in a statement. The vaccination campaign began in the governorates of North, Akkar, Bekaa, and Baalbek-Hermel, and will last three weeks in the first phase, said the ministry statement. A total of 600,000 doses of vaccine will be administered in the coming weeks, the local news website L’Orient Today cited caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad inspecting the vaccination campaign as saying.