TEHRAN (Iran News) – People over 75 being vaccinated against coronavirus. Coronavirus vaccination started for people aged 75 or above on Saturday, Alireza Raeisi, the deputy health minister, has announced.
Vaccination is underway for people above 80 years of age, and no one will be left unvaccinated despite the start of vaccination in the younger age groups, he added.
On April 27, vaccination of the elderly began with priority given to people aged 80 and above, IRNA reported on Saturday.
According to the Ministry of Health, about 3.2 million coronavirus vaccines have been imported into the country so far. Some 1,713,648 people received the first dose and 342,950 people have also received the second dose so that the total number of vaccines injected in the country has reached 2,056,598 doses.
Mass vaccination against COVID-19 started on Iranian citizens with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine on February 9.
While Iran continues efforts to mass-produce local candidates, several foreign vaccines have already been imported and others are expected soon.
Iran is currently producing vaccines jointly with three countries of Cuba, Russia, and Australia, which may also be released by September.
Domestic vaccines
COVIRAN BAREKAT, the first coronavirus vaccine made by Iranian researchers, started the third phase of the human trial in early May by being administrated to 20,000 people.
Developed by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, the vaccine was unveiled on December 29, 2020, and started to be mass-produced on March 29.
Meanwhile, a vaccine developed by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute (Razi Cov Pars) is expected to become the second Iranian-made vaccine to be administered among the population in early August; which started the clinical trial on February 27.
Iran has also successfully completed the first phase of the human trial for Fakhra vaccine, the third domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, named after nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (he was assassinated in November 2020 near Tehran), that was unveiled and started the clinical trial on March 16.
“Osvid-19”, the fourth domestic vaccine produced by Osvah Pharmaceutical Company is also undergoing human trials, which will also be available in early September.
New cases and mortalities
In a press briefing on Saturday, Health Ministry’s spokesperson, Sima-Sadat Lari, confirmed 7,723 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 2,739,875. She added that 2,210,851 patients have so far recovered, but 5,396 remain in critical conditions of the disease.
During the past 24 hours, 200 patients have lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 76,633, she added.
So far, 17,882,461 COVID-19 diagnostic tests have been performed in the country.
