The shipment touched down at Imam Khomeini International Airport to the west of the capital, Tehran, through the good offices of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS).
The vaccine batch is one of three consignments arriving in the country this week, says IRCS Director Karim Hemmati.
“With the coordination of the first vice president and the cooperation of the health ministry, the foreign ministry, the Central Bank and the Customs administration, for the first time in the country some 18 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine will be imported in one week, and the first 6-million-dose shipment of the overall 18 million doses arrived in Iran today and was handed over to the health ministry,” he said.
He said the IRCS has imported more than 58 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since May 2021, and the figure will cross 70 million once the mentioned 12 million doses enter the country.
He added the number of vaccination centres has increased across the country to speed up the pace of inoculation.
This comes as Iran itself has, so far, produced several types of coronavirus vaccines, which are widely used in the national COVID-19 vaccination drive.
