A shipment of more than 1.4 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Iran on Sunday and was delivered to the Health Ministry, according to the deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
"The new vaccine shipment entered Imam Khomeini Airport from Italy at 10 p.m. [local time] containing 1.452 million doses of AstraZeneca from COVAX," Mehrdad Jamal Orounaqi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Prior to this shipment, 3.1 million doses of vaccines had been imported to Iran from four different countries since February.
AstraZeneca is a Covid-19 vaccine with 76% efficiency.
“The private sector has signed a deal to import six million doses of Covid-19 vaccines,” Masoud Khansari, the head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, said recently.
“Imports of the vaccines will be financed by business owners, manufacturers and executive managers of companies at the market exchange rate for free vaccination of their workers,” he said.
Stressing that the private sector has not imported any vaccine so far, Nasser Riahi, a member of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, has said the private sector is allowed to import vaccines that cannot be purchased directly from the main producers and factories.
“There are wholesalers in the world who have access to these vaccines for various reasons and are allowed to sell them to customers,” he said.
“The private sector has been granted permission by the government to import Covid-19 vaccines. At first, 100,000 doses will be imported by the private sector and delivered to the National Coronavirus Headquarters or the Health Ministry at the customs offices. Imports will include the Russian Covid-19 vaccine known as Sputnik V and AstraZeneca vaccine produced in South Korea.”
Riahi further said importers will supply the vaccine on a not-for-profit basis and under the permit issued by Health Ministry.
“Vaccines that will be imported by the private sector will be administered to the employees of production companies. So far, 6,500 companies have registered for these vaccines at TCCIM; if import procedures go well, the first shipment will arrive by May 22, the beginning of the third Iranian month,” he added.
The TCCIM member said an estimated six million doses of vaccine are needed to be imported over the six months by the private sector to vaccinate production line workers.
“The private sector is capable of importing six million doses within a month but refrigerated storage facilities and vaccine administration capacity are key limiting factors in accelerating imports,” he added.
$2b Needed
Riahi noted that nearly $2 billion are needed to vaccinate Iran’s total population.
“The government had applied for 17 million doses from COVAX, but due to sanctions it failed to transfer the money on time,” he said.
According to the official, it will cost 2-2.5 million rials ($9-$11) to get each Covid-19 vaccine imported by the private sector and employers are expected to pick up the tab to cover the costs of vaccinating their employees.
The governor of Central Bank of Iran has said the bank is prepared to meet the foreign currency needs for importing the Covid-19 vaccine.
In a note posted on his social media account, Abdolnasser Hemmati said the CBI has allocated $100 million for the purchase of vaccine.
"Allocations will continue as per requests by the Health Ministry," he wrote in a note on Instagram.
The CBI gave subsidized currency for the vaccines (1 US dollar = 42,000 rials) – much less than a quarter of the rate in the open market.
Cheap currency is given only to import certain essential goods such as food, medicine and raw materials for manufacturing companies.
"CBI will meet all the currency needs to purchase the vaccine at the request of the Health Ministry. So far, forex has been provided for importing vaccine from China and Russia," he said.
According to Iran's Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali, Iran has finalized an agreement with Moscow for the purchase of 60 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine.
Hemmati said the bank will also give priority to the forex needs of private companies wanting to import vaccines.
Referring to the contract with COVAX, based on which 16.8 million doses of vaccine are to be sold to Iran, the CBI chief said prepayment has been made and the import process has started.
COVAX is a global initiative operating under the World Health Organization, which brings together governments and manufacturers to ensure Covid-19 vaccines reach those in greatest need. The initiative strives for the fair and equitable distribution of vaccine doses.
Iran announced in October that it had joined COVAX.
Frozen Funds in Iraq, Subsidy Program to Help Import Vaccines
According to Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian, Iran will finance Covid-19 vaccine payments through funds locked in Iraq, i.e., the neighboring country’s debt for electricity and natural gas imported from Iran. “President Hassan Rouhani has ordered the allocation of $1.5 billion for vaccine purchases,” he said.
“Iran had agreed to import wheat, barley, rice, oil, soybean, corn, pharmaceuticals and medical devices as part of Iraq’s outstanding debts. Now the two countries have agreed to buy Sputnik V and AstraZeneca vaccines from these resources,” ILNA quoted Hamid Hosseini, a member of Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce, as saying.
The Targeted Subsidies Organization has also allocated 4 trillion rials ($17.5 million) for importing 10 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine, ILNA reported.
The Targeted Subsidies Program of 2010 authorized the reduction of food and energy subsidies to allow the payment of cash handouts on a monthly basis.
Iran aims to vaccinate its 13 million high-risk population by late July to reduce the coronavirus pandemic’s death rate, President Hassan Rouhani has said.
“As per the Health Ministry’s plan, 13 million people will be immunized against Covid-19 by July 22,” the president was quoted as saying by his website.
The government will pay 428 trillion rials ($1.9 billion) in cash and non-cash subsidies in the current Iranian year (started March 21) as per the budget law. On top of that, it will allocate 310 trillion rials ($1.3 billion) for the implementation of the so-called Livelihood Assistance Program, i.e., cash transfers as compensation for higher gasoline prices introduced in November 2019.
Rouhani noted that Pasteur Institute of Iran’s jointly produced vaccine with Cuba will be ready for inoculation within the next week.
“CoV Pasteur is set for public use by late May and COV-Iran Barekat will become available by late June.”
Iran will reportedly have the capacity to produce 20 million shots of the vaccine every month, exponentially speeding up the national vaccination program.
Rouhani stated recently that the country is passing the peak of the fourth wave of the outbreak and most provinces are reporting a downtrend in infections.
