21m Doses of Covid-19 Vaccines Imported Since February

About 21 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines were imported to Iran from Feb. 3 to Aug. 9, according to Mehrdad Jamal Orounaqi, a senior official with the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
A total of 14.49 million doses of Sinopharm, 3.23 million doses of AstraZeneca, 2.15 million doses of COVAX, 1.02 million doses of Sputnik V and 125,000 doses of Bharat (COVAXIN) were imported in 33 shipments during the period under review, Fars News Agency reported.
“About 75-80% of Iran’s Covid-19 vaccine imports have come from China,” Majid Reza Hariri, the chairman of Iran-China Chamber of Commerce, has told ILNA.
Russia, India, Italy, South Korea and Japan are other origins of vaccines imported into Iran.
Notably, the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines imported by the Iranian private sector arrived in Iran from Russia on July 28.  
According to Nasser Riahi, chairman of Iranian Pharmaceutical Importers Association, the shipment includes 320,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine; it is the first batch of a larger order placed by the private sector. 
“Nearly 380,000 doses will arrive next week and by August 22, one million doses of vaccines under this contract will be imported to the country,” he was quoted as saying by ISNA.
“This shipment has nothing to do with the proposal made by Iran Chamber of Commerce on vaccination of workers. These vaccines were purchased by a private company and put at the disposal of Health Ministry to be used for vaccination of the general public.” 
Cobel Darou, one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Iran, is the importer of these vaccines from the Russian drugmaker R-Pharm, ILNA reported.
Earlier this year, the private sector announced it has signed a deal to import six million doses of Covid-19 vaccines. 
“Imports of the vaccines will be financed by business owners, manufacturers and executive managers of companies at market exchange rate for the free vaccination of their workers,” Masoud Khansari, the head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, said then. 
“Notably, importers will supply the vaccine on a not-for-profit basis and with the license issued by Health Ministry and supervision of the National Coronavirus Headquarters,” he was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency. 
Administrative burdens are slowing down the movement of Covid-19 vaccines into Iran, Khansari told the Persian economic daily Donya-e Eqtesad then.
Noting that several companies managed to place an order for the purchase of six million doses of Sputnik V and AstraZeneca vaccines and that all large and small companies, even those active in services, agreed to finance over 15,000 billion rials ($58 million) for importing these vaccines, he said the pro forma invoice of these doses were received from seller companies and sent to the Health Ministry.
A pro forma invoice is a preliminary bill or estimated invoice used to request payment from the committed buyer for goods or services before they are supplied.
“It was vital that the import procedure finalize at a faster pace without common bureaucratic barriers but unfortunately these bureaucratic complexities blew up the opportunity since sellers insisted on Iranian government approving the purchases. For a month, the chamber was jostling with Health Ministry to secure the approval letter. We talked almost with all high-ranking officials; all of them either those in the government or in the parliament promised to cooperate but the pro forma invoice was valid for only a week,” he added.
Khansari went on to say that: “We missed the opportunity to buy a million doses of vaccine due to lack of collaboration. The world faced another wave of Covid-19 in June and countries limited their exports. TCCIM tried to find another source. This time, importer companies tried to purchase three million doses of AstraZeneca from India on their own credit. But due to India’s worsening Covid crisis, the country banned exports. Credit documents regarding imports from India are still valid and hopefully, the Asian country will lift the ban on imports soon.”
In the meantime, a well-known company has managed to import a large volume of AstraZeneca vaccines using the government’s subsidized foreign currency at the rate of 42,000 rials per US dollar and give them to the Health Ministry, two shipments of which have arrived in the country thus far.    
“Sadly, Iran’s bureaucratic system is not ready at all for reacting efficiently in the face of emergencies. Somehow, one might say this much of stonewalling is intentional. There’s no reason to think vaccine imports by the private sector endanger the interests of some people,” he concluded.