Iran’s Vice President Mohamamd Mokhber has announced the country’s full preparedness for rolling out coronavirus booster vaccinations amid efforts by the government to prevent a fresh surge in the number of infections.
Chairing an expert committee meeting at Iran’s National Headquarters for Battling Coronavirus (NHBC) on Wednesday, Mokhber said that the government will make available enough doses of vaccines for a nationwide booster program if a decision is made to start the campaign.
“Today there is neither concern nor any shortage in the supply of vaccine and the ground is ready for the third and fourth dose vaccinations,” Mokhber was quoted as saying by official IRNA agency.
The senior government official then called on the health ministry to submit the results of its scientific surveys and studies for a decision to be made on when the booster program could kick off.
In a statement in late November, the NHBC’s scientific board authorized the use of coronavirus booster shots for all adults in Iran.
That comes as the health ministry has already delivered more than 1.8 million booster jabs to the immunocompromised and frontline health workers in the country.
Iran’s vaccination campaign against the coronavirus ramped up in midsummer when a new administrative government took office.
The total number of vaccinations exceeded 108.99 million on Wednesday, according to figures on the Iranian health ministry’s website.
The figures showed that more than 48.76 million people in Iran are now eligible to receive a booster coronavirus vaccine after receiving the first two doses.
The ministry said that the daily number of deaths from the virus had reached 90 from an infections tally of 3,309 recorded until Wednesday afternoon.