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HEALTH-VIRUS-IRAN-VACCINE
Iran starts Covid-19 vaccination campaign
TEHRAN, Feb 9, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Iran began its vaccination campaign against
Covid-19 on Tuesday to fight the Middle East’s deadliest outbreak of the
illness, images broadcast by state television showed.
“We begin our national vaccination against the Covid-19 virus… (in)
memory of the martyrdom of health workers,” Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani
said at a ceremony at a Tehran hospital, referring to medical personnel who
have died from the disease.
Iran’s inoculation effort for its 80-million-plus population is starting
with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, authorities have said.
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.
The Islamic republic has bought two million doses of Sputnik V, health
ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told AFP on Saturday.
Health Minister Saeed Namaki said last week that Iran would also receive
4.2 million doses of the vaccine developed by Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca
and Oxford University, 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.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1520 hrs