The total value of all Covid-19 vaccines imported from Feb. 3 to Sept. 12 stood at $421 million, according to the technical deputy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
“Each Sinopharm vaccine made in China costs $9.2, AstraZeneca made in China $4, AstraZeneca made in Japan $4, COVAX made in Italy $4, Sputnik V made in Russia $10, AstraZeneca made in Russia $6.5, COVAX made in South Korea $4 and AstraZeneca made in Austria $4 and Bharat (COVAXIN) made in India $14.5,” Mehrdad Jamal Orounaqi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
A total of 40.73 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm, 1.45 million Chinese AstraZeneca, 2.91 million Japanese AstraZeneca, 1.45 million Italian AstraZeneca (COVAX), 1.05 million Russian Sputnik V, 963,000 Russian AstraZeneca, 700,800 South Korean AstraZeneca (COVAX) and 125,000 Indian Bharat (COVAXIN) were imported to Iran during the period.
“Some of the imported vaccines have been donated to Iran and the import process is continuing,” he added.
A total of 3.2 million doses of Chinese-made Sinopharm Covid-19, which is the 50th coronavirus vaccine shipment to enter the country, arrived on Sept. 11, according to the latest IRIC announcement.
With the recently imported shipment, the total imported Covid-19 vaccines exceeded 50 million doses, IRNA reported.
From Feb. 3 to Sept. 11, coronavirus vaccines were imported from China, Italy, Russia, South Korea, Austria and India, while the highest volume of imported vaccines belonged to Sinopharm.
A total of 4.6 million doses of Chinese-made Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines arrived in Iran on 238 pallets weighing 73 tons on Sept. 3, the largest coronavirus shipment imported to the country so far.
“One hundred million doses of Covid-19 vaccines will have been imported to Iran by the end of 2021 as per contracts signed with international manufacturers,” Nasser Riahi, the chairman of Iranian Pharmaceutical Importers Association.
The private sector representative said Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a vaccine-sharing program coordinated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the World Health Organization to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines for poor and middle-income countries.
“Iran’s share of COVAX-supplied doses is estimated to stand at 16.8 million for 25% of the population. Iran needs to purchase vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna supplied by the COVAX via the World Health Organization due to banking issues. As a result, the country pays its financial commitments to the WHO and the WHO pays the vaccine manufacturers,” Riahi said.
“Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are ready to send 20 million doses of their Covid-19 vaccines to Iran each but such imports might take months due to restrictions regarding temperature requirements for shipping and storage.”
The official noted that contracts were signed for the import of 30-50 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia but the neighboring country failed to fully deliver on its promises.
“Fifty million doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine are expected to be imported from China ... Vaccine imports from South Korea and China will continue. A part of Bharat Biotech’s vaccines scheduled to be purchased from India has failed to be imported due to certain problems while imports of AstraZeneca’s vaccines are ongoing from different countries,” he said.
Noting that at present the private sector is not carrying out imports of vaccines, Riahi said, “The private sector companies are ready to import vaccines on a not-for-profit basis and with the license issued by the Health Ministry to deliver them to the government at the airport or put them at the disposal of companies that are willing to vaccinate their staff members.”
“The private sector has imported two million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccines so far. I’m asking the new health minister to change current conditions in order to facilitate transactions and accelerate vaccine imports,” he concluded.
Vaccination Gains Momentum
The vaccination process in Iran has recently gained pace as the new administration led by President Ebrahim Raiesi has put it on top of its agenda.
The total number of daily vaccinations broke a record in Iran on Sept. 12, with over 1.12 million people getting jabs in 24 hours, Tasnim News Agency reported.
As the daily vaccination drive in Iran has ramped up in recent days, more than 1,120,000 people received the vaccine across the country over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.
New figures indicate that more than 35,047,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered in the country as of Sept. 12, as nearly 23 million people have received the first dose of the vaccine, the report said.
While more than 30.22 million coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far, the total number of people tested positive has exceeded 5,295,700 following the detection of 20,219 new cases since Saturday.
“Of the new cases detected in the past 24 hours, 2,747 patients have been admitted to the hospital … At least 4,568,000 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across Iran.”
The ministry also put the death toll from Covid-19 in Iran at 114,311, saying the disease has taken the lives of 487 patients over the past 24 hours.
Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers, 7,278 coronavirus patients were reportedly in the intensive care units.
Criticism Over Bureaucracy
The new momentum in vaccination comes as bureaucracy has been slowing down the movement of Covid-19 vaccines into Iran.
“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 by intent; there’s no reason to think vaccine imports by the private sector won’t endanger the interests of some people,” Masoud Khansari, the head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, recently told Donya-e-Eqtesad.
“High-ranking political officials are now more vocal about the importance of vaccine imports than reaching self-sufficiency in producing it,” according to Ali Sarzaeem, an economic expert.
“It is patently obvious that Iran has missed out the golden opportunity for the import and administration of Covid-19 vaccine; the country is now most vulnerable to the delta variant. Executive agencies are engaged in the blame game while daily Covid-19 deaths are reaching record highs.”
Blaming misguided economic policies for the loss, he said emphasizing on governmental control of daily affairs of state on the pretext of improving justice is the first of these policies.
“From day one, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education opposed the import of vaccine by the private sector as it believed the country should not move in a direction that allows the rich to be vaccinated and not the poor,” Sarzaeem said.
He noted that the government made a mistake by assuming the responsibility of procuring vaccines while the private sector could carry out this duty more effortlessly, quickly and efficiently, adding that it was also wrong for the government to take charge of vaccine distribution while again the private sector was more competent in doing so.
“The government was looking to see Covid-19 deaths equally befall the rich and the poor by employing a misguided policy, turning a blind eye to the fact that those who were financially capable travel to foreign countries to get vaccinated,” he said.
Sarzaeem stressed that reaching self-sufficiency in everything or almost everything is the second misguided approach.
“The lesson we can take from the high number of Covid-19 fatalities in recent days is that the government is not a good player; economic motivations act more efficiently when it comes to meeting the needs of people. It is enough, even more than enough, for the government to stick to correct policymaking and to support the underprivileged,” the economist concluded.