Iran Receives 3rd Shipment of Russian Covid-19 Vaccine

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s Health Ministry has announced the arrival of a third batch of Russian-developed coronavirus vaccines on Thursday, as the country continues to vaccinate its frontline health workers, nursing-home residents and disabled war veterans.

News ID: ۷۸۶۱۸۱

06 March 2021

“This shipment contains 200,000 shots of Sputnik V and the next cargos will be delivered over the next few weeks,” Kianoush Jahanpour, the head of the Health Ministry’s Information Center and Public Relations, was quoted as saying by ISNA.

Iran has so far received 320,000 shots of Russia’s Sputnik V and China’s donation of 250,000 doses of Sinopharm, enough to vaccinate 285,000 people.

“By late March, 1.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be delivered via COVAX. We’ll get three or four vaccine shipments before Norouz [the Iranian New Year starting March 21],” Jahanpour said.

The COVAX program, supported by the GAVI vaccine alliance and World Health Organization, attempts to ensure equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income nations.

COVAX aims to distribute 237 million shots of AstraZeneca to 142 countries over the next three months to help slow the spread of the contagion, Reuters reported.