Covid-19 Vaccine Imports Exceed 150 Million Doses
EghtesadOnline: Two new shipments of Covid-19 vaccines, the first containing 131,000 doses of AstraZeneca made in Germany and the other 1.09 million doses of AstraZeneca made in the Netherlands, have been imported, Mehrdad Jamal Arvanaghi, technical deputy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, said on Dec. 10.
“With the new shipments, the total volume of Covid-19 vaccines imported to Iran exceeded 150 million doses,” he was quoted as saying by IRIB News.
Iran imports Covid-19 vaccines from China, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Poland, South Korea, Greece, Russia and India.
Arvanaghi noted that because of the abundance of vaccines in the country, the imports will probably stop until further notice.
The Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the major importer of the jabs.
Monthly Covid-19 vaccine imports set a new record as more than 60 million doses entered Iran in the current fiscal year’s seventh month (Sept. 23-Oct. 22).
Arvanaghi had earlier said the total value of all Covid-19 vaccines imported to Iran from Feb. 3 to Sept. 12 stood at $421 million.
“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, AstraZeneca made in Austria $4 and Bharat [COVAXIN] made in India $14.5,” he added.
Some of the imported vaccines have been donated to Iran.