Iranian President Hasan Rouhani announced on Tuesday that Tehran is trying its best to start the vaccination against the coronavirus before March.
“As soon as the high-risk groups, including the healthcare and medical personnel, are vaccinated, the situation will improve; then, vaccination of the public will start,” Rouhani said on Tuesday during a video conference inauguration ceremony.
He noted that the Iranian government has procured millions of doses of credible COVID-19 vaccines, which will enter the country soon.
“The domestically-produced vaccines will hopefully enter the market by summer,” Rouhani said as quoted by Mehr news agency.
The Iranian government has striving to supply the need for the coronavirus vaccine with homegrown and foreign products, the agency added.
Officials say the first batch of Russian-made COVID-19 vaccines will arrive in the country later this week. Civil aviation authority spokesman Mohammad Hassan Zibakhsh said on Monday that Iran’s Mahan Air had been tasked with transporting the first batch of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine into Iran.
Iran is also reportedly planning to start local manufacturing of Sputnik V, a two-shot vaccine that is based on two inactive viruses.
Source: Iranian media
