FNA- Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi underlined that his government prioritizes vaccination of Iranians from all walks of life, and said funds will be allocated to import millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
President Rayeesi made the remarks addressing a meeting of the National Task Force for Fight against Coronavirus.
“There is no problem in allocating funds for the import of the COVID-19 vaccine,” the Iranian president said.
“The import of vaccines has accelerated at the same time as the production of domestic vaccines and this is one of the priorities of the government said the president,” he added.
President Rayeesi has set an ultimatum for the government to drastically change its methods of fighting the coronavirus epidemic as the country’s health system struggles under a fifth wave of infections.
Rayeesi told members of the high-profile National Headquarters for Battling Coronavirus (NHBC) that Iran has to come up with an extensive plan for mobilizing volunteer forces to fight the rapid spread of the disease.
“The universal plan for overhaul in methods of fighting the coronavirus will be compiled in a special committee using the experiences of the past one and half years of the country,” said the president, adding that the plan will be open for debate in NHBC’s next Saturday meeting.
Rayeesi said governorate offices and medical universities in provincial capitals are expected to immediately submit their proposals for the new plan.
He said the plan would include clear action guidelines on hygiene protocols, vaccine production and delivery as well as on government support for health staff and businesses affected by the virus.
Iran has seen a major surge in the number of coronavirus deaths and infections in recent days as the Delta variant of the virus continues to spread across the country.
On vaccinations, Rayeesi vowed that his administration will continue to support domestic vaccine production although he said that no efforts will be spared to receive abundant supplies from abroad.
The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting approximately all countries and territories around the world. The virus was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late 2019. It has so far killed over 4.3 million people and infected over 205 million others globally.
The Iranian foreign ministry declared that despite Washington’s claims of cooperation to transfer drugs to Iran via the new Swiss-launched payment mechanism, the US is troubling the process amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Although US claims that medicines and medical equipment are not under sanctions, they have practically blocked the transfer of Iran’s financial resources in other countries into the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), former Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said.
As the death toll from the virus surges, Iran intensifies its preventive safety measures. Closures of schools and most universities have been extended until further notice.
