Iran receives 1st batch of COVAX jabs

Tehran, April 5 : The first consignment of jabs allocated to Iran under the World Health Organizations Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) program has arrived in Tehran, the countrys Food and Drug Administration said on Monday.The shipment, including over 700,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, was shipped to Iran on Sunday night, Xinhua news agency reported citing Kianoush Jahanpour, the administrations spokesperson, as saying.

Irans quota under the COVAX program amounts to 16.8 million doses, Jahanpour said.So far, Iran has received 520,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, and plans to produce domestic vaccines in the next months.

Meanwhile, President Hassan Rouhani recently blamed Washingtons sanctions for "hindering the availability of Covid-19 vaccines" for Iranians.Rouhani said that his administration has allowed the private sector to import the vaccines, using the subsidized foreign currency and under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

Iran has registered 1,932,074 confirmed coronavirus cases with 63,160 deaths.