TEHERAN (BLOOMBERG) – Iran will start its first coronavirus vaccinations this week using Russia’s Sputnik V shot to inoculate healthcare workers at the epicentre of the Middle East’s worst outbreak, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The shots will be given to medical personnel who have been tending to serious cases of the disease in intensive care units from Feb 9, Iran’s Health Minister Saeed Namaki said on Sunday (Feb 7), without giving more details, according to IRNA.

Iran has seen the Middle East’s worst coronavirus outbreak, with more than 1.4 million cases and almost 60,000 deaths reported so far.

Officials have blamed US sanctions for hampering their ability to both contain the disease and ward off economic collapse.

The Islamic Republic is keen to avoid imports of Western vaccines, and last month Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced a ban on British and US-made shots.

However, Dr Namaki said on Feb 2 that Iran had secured some 4.2 million doses of the UK-based AstraZeneca-Oxford University jab using the global vaccine procurement system backed by the World Health Organisation.

On Sunday, while the country reported 7,065 new infections overnight, the number of daily deaths from the coronavirus dropped to 57, the lowest figure since May 2020.

Iran also unveiled its second locally developed vaccine for the disease, called Razi Cov Pars, a recombinant protein-based vaccine that’s been developed by the state-owned Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, state TV reported.

The first clinical trial phase of Coviran, the country’s other homemade vaccine, was completed last week with 56 volunteers and is expected to be approved for use by the general population by the summer, officials have said.

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