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Iranian president emphasizes acceleration of imports, injection of COVID-19 vaccine

10 September 2021 00:29 (UTC +04:00)

Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi announced on Thursday that purchase of 50mln doses of coronavirus vaccine has been secured so far, stressing the need for speeding up efforts to produce, import and inject more jabs, APA reports citiubng local media.

Rayeesi made the remarks, addressing a meeting with the heads of specialized committees of the national coronavirus campaign headquarters in Tehran.

He said that the country has taken four transitional steps in the fight against the new surge of the coronavirus spread, noting that they include supporting domestic COVID-19 vaccines, increasing foreign vaccine imports, accelerating vaccination and implementing an upgraded iteration of 'Martyr Soleimani' plan.

Rayeesi said that domestic COVID-19 vaccines Fakhra and Razi are in the production stage and Barekat vaccine production line was expanded by speeding up Health Ministry licensing processes.

He also explained that affording and importing foreign vaccines have also been accelerated so that the purchase of 50 million doses has been secured.

The country also saw an increase in general vaccination speed, as 1.1 million doses were administered on Wednesday, according to the President who also vowed to even increase vaccination speed to 2 million doses a day.

Martyr Soleimani plan to fight the coronavirus spread was suspended for some time and President Rayeesi ordered the resumption of the plan as it was effective in cooling down the surge in the pandemic last year.

He praised the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Basij forces and the Red Crescent Society for their efforts to revive Martyr Soleimani plan.

Addressing a meeting with the IRGC commanders, Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi announced on Wednesday that there are currently about 21 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the health ministry's warehouses, adding that 8 million doses will enter Iran on Thursday and another 10 million doses will be imported next Sunday.

The Iranian Armed Forces, including the IRGC, the Army and the Basij (volunteer) forces, have launched a coordinated move to prevent further spread of coronavirus and help the health ministry to treat the patients.

Iran is entangled in a fifth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, driven by the delta variant of the virus.