Vaccine Imports to Reach 140m Target by End of Oct.

Iran is slated to receive 60 million shots of Covid-19 vaccines over the course of October and reach its target of securing 140 million vaccine doses by this month’s end. 
“So far some 80 million shots have arrived into the country,” spokesman for the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Mohammad Hassan Qossian Moqaddam, was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The IRCS is responsible for bringing in most of the vaccine shipments that are delivered to the Health Ministry for distribution. 
Iran saw a spike in vaccine supplies mid-summer when Beijing began to send weekly batches of its Sinopharm vaccine to help the country contain a devastating fifth wave of the disease driven by the highly contagious Delta variant. 
More than 40 million Iranians have received one dose of a Covid vaccine as the number of fully vaccinated individuals rose to 16.5 million.
The ministry gave out 768,000 shots over the past 24 hours, taking the total number of shots administered to 55.8 million. 
Authorities are also planning to give booster shots to healthcare personnel to build a stronger immune response in those most at risk of contracting the illness. 
The country’s national vaccination campaign kicked off in February 2021.
The initially slow vaccine rollout has picked up speed and health officials point out that Iran’s vaccine coverage rates can climb to 70% in one to two weeks. 
The Health Ministry has lowered vaccine eligibility age to 12 to curb transmission rates as much as possible before a return to normalcy.

Student Vaccinations

President Ebrahim Raeisi on Saturday called for the vaccination of pupils over the age of 12 to pave the way for large-scale school reopenings. 
“Measures have been taken to resume in-person learning at schools,” the president noted.
Iran received a second batch of coronavirus vaccines for adolescents between the ages of 12-17 this weekend. The 12 million jabs have been specifically imported for students.
School teachers, personnel and drivers are already getting inoculated.
Raeisi also pointed to the National Coronavirus Headquarter’s latest scheme to limit unvaccinated people’s access to public services in a few weeks. 
“Smart restrictions will take the place of closures,” he added. 
Iran plans to launch a pilot program in the province of Qazvin, west of Tehran, in the near future to test the initiative before its nationwide implementation. 
The measure could reinvigorate the country’s economy and undo some of the damage caused by the coronavirus outbreak as many high-risk businesses are still under lockdown. 
The deadly virus claimed the lives of over 215 Iranians on Saturday, pushing the pandemic’s national toll to 120,880. The Health Ministry also reported 10,135 newly identified patients which took the case tally to 5.61 million. 
During the peak of the last wave, the country reported 50,000 daily cases and over 700 overnight fatalities. 
Across the world, more than 235 million people have tested positive for the viral infection since the start of the outbreak and some 4.8 million people have lost their lives to it.