Iran is slated to receive 60 million shots of Covid-19 vaccines over the course of October and reach its target of securing 140 million vaccine doses by this month’s end.
“So far some 80 million shots have arrived into the country,” spokesman for the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Mohammad Hassan Qossian Moqaddam, was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The IRCS is responsible for bringing in most of the vaccine shipments that are delivered to the Health Ministry for distribution.
Iran saw a spike in vaccine supplies mid-summer when Beijing began to send weekly batches of its Sinopharm vaccine to help the country contain a devastating fifth wave of the disease driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.
More than 40 million Iranians have received one dose of a Covid vaccine as the number of fully vaccinated individuals rose to 16.5 million.
The ministry gave out 768,000 shots over the past 24 hours, taking the total number of shots administered to 55.8 million.
Authorities are also planning to give booster shots to healthcare personnel to build a stronger immune response in those most at risk of contracting the illness.
The country’s national vaccination campaign kicked off in February 2021.
The initially slow vaccine rollout has picked up speed and health officials point out that Iran’s vaccine coverage rates can climb to 70% in one to two weeks.
The Health Ministry has lowered vaccine eligibility age to 12 to curb transmission rates as much as possible before a return to normalcy.