Covid-19 Vaccine Imports Exceed 152m Doses

EghtesadOnline: Two new shipments of Covid-19 vaccines arrived in Iran, bringing the total volume of imports to 152.51 million doses, Rouhollah Latifi, spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration said on Jan. 4.

News ID: ۷۸۷۵۶۵

05 January 2022

“The 88th and 89th imported shipments included a total of 2.4 million doses of Sinopharm and with the newly-imported shipments, the total volume of imported Sinopharm vaccines reached 135 million doses,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.

The total volume of imported AstraZeneca vaccines stands at 13.29 million doses, Sputnik V at 4.09 and Bharat at 1.13 million doses, Latifi added.

The official also noted that two million packages of coronavirus diagnosis kits donated by the World Health Organization have been cleared from customs in recent days.

China, Russia, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Italy, China, India, Austria, Poland, Greece and Germany are the main vaccine exporters to Iran.

“Due to the abundance of vaccines in the country, the imports will probably stop until further notice,” Arvanaqi was quoted as saying by IRIB News recently.

The Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the major importer of the jabs.

Monthly Covid-19 vaccine imports set a record, as more than 60 million doses entered Iran in the seventh month of the current fiscal year (Sept. 23-Oct. 22).

The total value of all Covid-19 vaccines imported to Iran from Feb. 3 to Sept. 12 stood at $421 million, Arvanaqi 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,” he added.

Some of the imported vaccines have been donated to Iran.

Iran’s land border crossings have been closed to passengers starting Dec. 25 for a period of 15 days to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus variant, Omicron, the IRICA spokesman said earlier.

“The measure was taken at the request of the National Coronavirus Headquarters and the Interior Ministry. As such, passengers may not cross land borders to Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Armenia for 15 days as of Saturday,” Latifi said.

As for Turkmenistan, he added, land border crossing has been banned since the outbreak of the Covid-19 more than two years ago.

The spokesman stressed that for those who are permanent residents of neighboring countries, or departing for reasons of education, health and trade, crossing the borders is possible under certain conditions.

“Border crossing in the freight sector is exempt from the ban and cargo vehicles are free to travel back and forth during the 15-day period,” he said.