60‌ Million Iranians to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine in 4 Phases: Rouhani

President Hassan Rouhani noted on Saturday that one of the serious demands by people is to have immediate access to the COVID-19 vaccine, but they must rest assured that the government has adopted all necessary measures to produce the vaccine in the country and purchase safe vaccines from abroad.

“Due to problems caused by cruel and illegal sanctions, we had been busy dealing with difficulties with regards to the transfer of money to procure foreign vaccines,” he added.

President Rouhani said foreign companies wanted to test their vaccines on the Iranian people, but the Health Ministry declined the offer, as the government will not turn Iranian people into subjects for the trial of foreign vaccines.

President Rouhani also said he was happy to see the infection and death rate caused by the coronavirus disease has dropped in the country.

“Despite the spread of the coronavirus in some parts of the world, the trend of the disease in Iran has been on the decline because people observed health protocols and regulations,” he said.

However, he added, health protocols still need to be observed and gatherings should be avoided to help further contain the deadly virus.

President Rouhani underlined “blue” areas have also been added to the previous categories of “yellow, orange and red” areas in terms of coronavirus.

He said all businesses are open and doing their work in blue areas, but that does not mean the coronavirus has been eradicated in these areas.