Iran Breaks Daily Vaccination Record as Imports Accelerate

The Health Ministry on Sunday announced that it has given out an all-time high of 1.120 million Covid vaccines in one single day as more shipments roll out. 
For the second time in five days, Iran set a new vaccination record following the arrival of large shipments of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, ISNA reported.
The new vaccinations took the total number of shots administered to over 35 million. 
Spokesman for the National Coronavirus Headquarters, Alireza Raeisi, said on Saturday night that so far 49.2 million jabs have been brought into the country.
“By [September 22], 10 to 15 million doses will be imported. By November, 130 million shots will have arrived,” the health official added. 
He noted that Iran has the capacity to give 1.8 million vaccines a day. 
Some 22.9 million Iranians have received a first dose and more than 12.1 million have been fully vaccinated since February.
Iran expedited its national vaccination campaign after a surge in infections and deaths driven by the highly contagious Delta variant. 
According to Raeisi, the country will witness a significant decline in cases and mortalities if 70 to 75% of its population of 85 million people are immunized against the viral disease.
The NCH on Sunday lifted the night-time curfew put in place months ago to allow round-the-clock vaccination centers to inoculate more people as fast as possible.
Raeisi nevertheless cautioned against gatherings and asked the public to only leave their homes to get vaccinated. 
 

Gradual School Reopening

Education Ministry on Sunday said that school reopenings across the country will take place “slowly and gradually” after over one year of distance learning. 
Deputy Minister Alireza Kamraei pointed out that only one fourth of children’s parents are against physical learning in the classrooms and measures will be taken to alleviate their concerns. 
“We need to act slowly and gradually and delegate authority to provinces and districts,” he said, adding that classes where there are 15 or less students will definitely be held in person. 
Iran closed down schools and universities back in February 2020 to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. It is now vaccinating university students to facilitate a return to normalcy. 
Head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society Karim Hemmati said on Sunday that his organization plans to import 10 million jabs for teenagers between the ages of 12 to 18.
“Students will be immunized against the coronavirus,” he said. School personnel and teachers have been getting vaccinated since last month to pave the way for school reopenings.
The Red Crescent Society has been largely responsible for the boost to vaccine rollout. Hemmati noted that his organization will bring in a total of 90 million jabs by November. 
The Health Ministry on Sunday logged 487 deaths and 20,000 new infections as 2,000 more people were hospitalized due to moderate to severe symptoms. 
Worldwide Covid cases rose to 225.2 million on Sunday as fatalities from the pandemic reached 4.640 million.