“In the coming hours, a shipment of Sinopharm vaccine will arrive from China,” Mehrdad Jamal Arvanaghi was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
This will be the 82nd shipment of Covid-19 vaccines.
“Another shipment will arrive on Tuesday morning [Nov. 16] and a third shipment is due on Tuesday evening.”
According to Arvanaghi, each of the shipments, from Iran’s quota of Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), contains 500,000 doses.
A total of 147.17 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been imported to Iran in 81 shipments, of which 129.89 million doses in 47 shipments were Sinopharm vaccine.
“Due to the abundance of vaccines in the country, the imports will probably stop until further notice,” Arvanaghi was quoted as saying by IRIB News recently.
The Red Crescent Society of Iran is the main importer of the jabs.
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).
Arvanaghi had earlier said the total value of all Covid-19 vaccines imported to Iran from Feb. 3 to Sept. 22 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 added.
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.
A shipment from South Korea was the latest to have been donated.
One million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines from South Korea have arrived in Tehran, the English-language South Korean television network Arirang TV reported on Oct. 28.
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 earlier.
The report described the donation as a means to celebrate the 60-year relationship between South Korea and Iran.
Earlier, the Polish Foreign Ministry announced that Poland had donated one million Covid-19 vaccines to Iran in an expression of solidarity with the Iranian people, with whom Poland has had a good, centuries-old relationship.
The ministry said the vaccines arrived at Tehran’s airport on Oct. 16, adding that Poland had an adequate supply of vaccines to sufficiently cover its domestic needs.