President Hassan Rouhani said some 13 million people in Iran, about 15% of the population, will be vaccinated against the coronavirus by July 22, as the country tries to combat the Middle East’s worst outbreak.
Rouhani said he expects all people in high-risk groups to receive at least their first dose by that date, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported, adding that two domestically developed shots will be ready for mass use by June.
On Sunday the Health Ministry said 14,141 new cases of the coronavirus and 386 new deaths from the disease had been registered in the last 24 hours. Last month, daily cases reached record levels, topping 25,000 in a single day.
Since February, Iran has vaccinated 1.7 million people, mostly health workers and the elderly, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported on Sunday. The country has been using Russia’s Sputnik V, the U.K.’s AstraZeneca jab, China’s Sinopharm and India’s Covaxin jabs, according to ISNA.