Iran prepares 14 million flu vaccine doses to cope with COVID-19 complications

News ID: 48120

Iran » Iran

Publish Date: 9:18 - 20 September 2020

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Iran prepares 14 million flu vaccine doses to cope with COVID-19 complications

Sunday, 20 September 2020_The Iranian health ministry is preparing 14 million flu vaccine doses as part of its efforts to head off complications that might impact the healthcare system in the country in the autumn and winter if people simultaneously contract the flu and the COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

Iran prepares 14 million flu vaccine doses to cope with COVID-19 complications Director of Iran’s Food and Drug Organization said on Saturday that Iran has an aggressive influenza vaccination program this calendar year ending late March compared to last year when 1.6 million shots were procured.

The first batch of two million flu vaccine doses has been made available for elderly people over 65 who register their unique national identity numbers in the pharmacies across the country, said Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, adding that later phases of the vaccination program would cover other groups of population.

The scheme comes as Iran is struggling to prevent a renewed surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, especially during the autumn and winter months when flu cases increase and pile a pressure on the country’s healthcare system.

Relying on its domestic capacities, Iran has managed to contain one of the largest outbreaks of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The country has been under a series of harsh sanctions by the US, the country which refused to relax the bans even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in March and April.

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Iran prepares 14 million flu vaccine doses to cope with COVID-19 complications