Italy Donates 1.2m Doses of Covid-19 Vaccine to Iran

Italy is donating 1.2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Iran as a part of a COVAX initiative, Ambassador Giuseppe Perrone said on Monday. 
"This connotes the long-lasting and firm connection between the two nations. Italy and Iran were among the most affected countries at the beginning of the pandemic and both were put to a test," Perrone said in Tehran, according to a press release.
The gesture by Italy takes on “greater significance at a crucial moment, such as now, for overcoming the epidemic emergency at the global level." The donation will be delivered by UNICEF in the coming days.
Italy earlier allocated €100,000 to the WHO for activities of prevention and awareness of the population in Iran towards socially responsible behavior and another €100,000 to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for treatment of patients affected by the epidemic in Iran. 
Nearly 80 million doses of vaccines have been shipped to Iran so far.
More than 42.4 million Iranians have received one dose of the  Covid vaccine and the number of fully vaccinated rose to 17.2 million.
The deadly virus claimed the lives of 216 Iranians on Monday, pushing the pandemic’s national toll to 121,563. The Health Ministry reported 13,226 newly identified patients which took the case tally to 5.65 million.
During the peak of the last wave, the country reported 50,000 daily cases and over 700 daily fatalities.