New Record in Covid-19 Vaccine Imports
Eghtesadonline: A total of six million doses of Chinese-made Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines were imported on Oct. 24 by the Red Crescent Society of Islamic Republic of Iran, Karim Hemati, the head of the organization, said.
According to the official, seven shipments each containing six million doses of Sinopharm were imported by the organization from Sept. 29 to Oct. 24.
The Red Crescent Society imported 94.39 million doses of Sinopharm from April 21 to Oct. 24, IRNA reported.
Covid-19 vaccine imports set a new record, as more than 60 million doses entered Iran in the seventh month of the current fiscal year (Sept. 23-Oct. 22), according to Mehrdad Jamal Arvanaghi, the technical deputy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
The official added that a total of 120.47 million doses of vaccines were imported from Feb. 3 to Oct. 23 in 73 shipments, Mehr News Agency reported.
The imported vaccines include Sinopharm with 105.73 million doses (87% of total imports), AstraZeneca with 11.07 million doses (9%), Sputnik V (2%), Bharat (COVAXIN) with 1.13 million doses (close to 1%).
The total value of all Covid-19 vaccines imported to Iran from Feb.3 to Sept. 12 stood at $421 million, Arvanaghi had said earlier.
“Each Sinopharm vaccine made in China costs $9.2, AstraZeneca made in China $4, AstraZeneca made in Japan $4, COVAX made in Italy $4, Sputnik V made in Russia $10, AstraZeneca made in Russia $6.5, COVAX made in South Korea $4 and AstraZeneca made in Austria $4 and Bharat (COVAXIN) made in India $14.5,” the IRICA official said.
“Some of the imported vaccines have been donated to Iran and the import process continues.”
The Polish Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that Poland had donated one million Covid-19 vaccines to Iran in an expression of solidarity with the Iranian people.
The ministry said the vaccines arrived at Tehran’s airport on Oct. 16.
"The fact that Poland supports Iran in the fight against Covid-19 was met with wide and friendly approval right then and there. Information on this topic was published by all the major newspapers, news agencies and news websites," said the ministry.
It added that, like many other countries in the Middle East, Iran was still struggling with the coronavirus pandemic.
The ministry also said that the donation was an expression of solidarity with Iranians, with whom Poland has had a good, centuries-old relationship, while adding that Poland has an adequate supply of vaccines to sufficiently cover its domestic needs.
Poland has donated vaccines to a number of countries, including Egypt, Vietnam, Taiwan, Kenya, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Australia, Norway and Kyrgyzstan.