On Tuesday, Iran launched a vaccination campaign, two weeks after it declared there were no “red” cities left in the country which is the most badly-affected country in the Middle East.
The vaccination focuses on hospital intensive care personnel as authorities await enough vaccines for the general population.
The country, however, declared Ahvaz, capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province and nine other cities and towns, as “red” zones after a surge in infections with health authorities ordering non-essential businesses to shut.
On Friday, Iran received 100,000 of the 2 million shots of Sputnik V vaccine that it had ordered, state a Television said as cited by Reuters. Russia is expected to increase the order to 5 million doses and allow Iran to produce the vaccine locally.
The hard-hit country in the Middle East plans to immunize 1.3 million people by March 20.
Iran also expects to receive more than 4 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, despite the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned importing vaccines made by U.S. and U.K., which he said were unreliable and may be used to spread the infection.
According to health ministry data, Iran has recorded 1.5 million cases. Its death toll hit 58,809 after 58 new fatalities were registered on Friday—its lowest daily record for more than eight months.
Tehran launched human trials of the first of its three domestic vaccine candidates in December.
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