The COVAX facility has pledged to provide Iran with 16.8 million doses of the vaccine, IRIB quoted Riyahi as saying.

Russia has also signed contracts to export 30-50 million doses of the vaccine to Iran, but it has reneged on the promise, he noted.

“It had been planned to import 50 million doses of Chinese vaccine from Sinopharm, but to date around half of the amount has been delivered.”

On August 25, World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Iran Jaffar Hussain announced that three million doses of vaccine will be delivered soon to the country under the COVAX facility.

The COVAX Facility is a partnership, co-led by Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi-The Vaccine Alliance, and the WHO, alongside key delivery partner United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Iran has purchased 16.8 million doses, while roughly 5.8 million doses have already arrived in the country, and three million is expected to receive by the coming days, he stated.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society head Karim Hemmati said on August 26 that a total of 20.390 million doses of the vaccine have been imported so far.

Moreover, negotiation is underway with one or two European countries to purchase Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines, Alireza Raisi, the spokesman for the National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control, has said.

Referring to good efforts made to import vaccines, he said: “By the end of September, we will definitely import about 30 million doses of vaccine. With another memorandum of understanding from October, we will receive another 30 million doses.

So, if we receive 60 million doses of vaccine, we can vaccinate the age group of 30 by the beginning of November.”

Meanwhile, President Ebrahim Raisi has confirmed that 30 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be imported.

“All public and private sectors, real and legal persons, and individuals must be coordinated and unanimous to control the spread of this dangerous virus,” Raisi said on August 14.

Raisi highlighted that it is not solely enough to draft and announce health protocols, adding that if an individual disobeys the protocols and causes people to get sick, he has violated their rights.

In his August 11 televised address, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested that containing the rapidly increasing wave of the Coronavirus is the first and foremost issue of the country.

Placing great emphasis on the fulfillment of duties and the implementation of decisions regarding the Coronavirus pandemic, Ayatollah Khamenei said “the vaccine, whether imported or domestically produced, must be provided with double effort and in any way possible made available to all people.”

“Fortunately, with the production of the domestic vaccine, its foreign import route is also paved, while before that, despite the payment for the vaccine, foreign sellers failed to fulfill their commitments,” the Leader said, urging officials to take importation and production of vaccine seriously.

The post Iran awaiting 100m doses of coronavirus vaccine by yearend appeared first on Iran News Daily.

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.

The post People over 75 being vaccinated against coronavirus appeared first on Iran News Daily.