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News ID: 87494
Publish Date : 10 February 2021 - 21:53

Iran Launches Vaccination Against Covid-19

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran began its Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Tuesday, starting with frontline medical workers as the government attempts to contain the outbreak of the disease amid the inhuman U.S. sanctions.
The first person to receive a jab of the Sputnik V vaccine on national television was the son of the health minister, Saeed Namaki.
The Sputnik V doses are part of a batch of about 500,000 that will arrive in Iran in February, out of a total purchase of two million doses.
"Given the attacks, we promised to start the vaccination with our own families,” Namaki said, referring to questions raised from certain quarters which have scientifically been quashed.  
Iran expects to vaccinate 70% of its population of more than 80 million, and aims to inoculate about 1.4 million before the end of the Iranian year on March 20 amid global supply constraints. Vaccinations in Iran are free of charge.
"We begin our national vaccination against the Covid-19 virus... (in) memory of the martyrdom of health workers,” President Hassan Rouhani said at a ceremony at a Tehran hospital, referring to medical personnel who have died from the disease.
The first doses of the Russian vaccine arrived on Thursday in Tehran, with two more shipments expected by February 18 and 28, according to Iranian authorities.
Namaki said last week that Iran would also receive 4.2 million doses of vaccine, purchased via the international vaccine mechanism Covax.
The novel coronavirus has infected 1.4 million people in Iran and killed more than 58,500, according to the health ministry.
The country started clinical trials of its own first locally developed vaccine in late December and on Monday unveiled a second homegrown vaccine project.
The second Iranian vaccine, dubbed Razi Cov Pars, was developed at the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, which is linked to the agriculture ministry, according to Massoud Soleimani, a member of Iran’s national vaccine committee.
Iran has concluded talks with Russia aimed at launching local manufacturing for Sputnik V, Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali said on Wednesday.
"Our talks over the joint production have concluded and we will soon witness the manufacturing of this vaccine in Iran,” he said during a virtual festive ceremony to mark the anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979.
He made the announcement as he attended a high-level meeting on Wednesday between representatives of the Iranian and Russian health ministries.
A 10-member delegation of pharmaceutical officials from Iran has been visiting Russia to closely monitor Sputnik V manufacturing processes in the country and to make preparations for joint production of the vaccine in Iran.
The delegation, led by Iran’s Food and Drug Organization chief Muhammad Reza Shanehsaz, met senior Russian health ministry officials on Wednesday, said a report by Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
The report said Russian authorities were eager to raise the level of health cooperation between the two countries to "its highest level”.
It quoted Alexandra Dronova, Russia’s deputy health minister, as saying that Moscow would submit to Iran a draft agreement on increased health cooperation in the near future before representatives of the two governments meet to finalize it.
Dronova said Iran and Russia should focus their joint future efforts on prevention of infectious and non-infectious diseases, provision of medical services and health education.
Shanehsaz, for his part, welcomed the initiative for ramping up health ties, saying Iran could become a regional hub for the sales of Russian medicines as part of future health exchanges between the two countries.