Covid-19 Vaccine Imports Exceed 132 Million Doses

EghtesadOnline: A total of 6 million doses of Chinese-made Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines arrived at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on Oct. 26.

News ID: ۷۸۷۲۱۴

27 October 2021

With the new shipment, the total volume of imported vaccines now exceeds 132 million doses.

From the total imported vaccines, Sinopharm has the lion’s share with 111 million doses, Mehr News Agency reported.

The Red Crescent Society of Iran has imported 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

Covid-19 vaccine imports set a record in the last fiscal month, 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 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 and AstraZeneca made in Austria $4 and Bharat [COVAXIN] made in India $14.5,” he was quoted as saying.

“Some of the imported vaccines have been donated to Iran and the import process continues,” he said.

Besides China, Iran imports Covid jabs from Russia, Japan, Italy, Russia, India, Austria, Germany, South Korea and Greece.

Some of the imported vaccines have been donated to Iran.

South Korea is providing Covid-19 vaccines to Iran, as the country looks to use them as diplomatic leverage with formidable progress in the nationwide vaccination scheme, the Korea Herald reported.

The Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Monday that Korea will deliver 1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca this month.

The vaccines will arrive in Iran on Wednesday as a means to celebrate the 60-year relationship between Korea and Iran. The government said it has been discussing providing the vaccines to Iran with a philanthropic aim to help the international community raise its vaccination rate.

Meanwhile, the Polish Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that Poland had donated 1 million Covid-19 vaccines to Iran in an expression of solidarity with the Iranian people.

The ministry said the vaccines had arrived at Tehran’s airport on Oct. 16.

The ministry also said the donation was an expression of solidarity with Iranians, with whom Poland has had a good, centuries-old relationship, while adding that Poland had 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.