President Hassan Rouhani has confirmed the news. The names of the vaccines have not been announced. Rouhani has said the vaccination program using these two vaccines is due to be launched this week. The President has also spoken of other domestically-made vaccines and said they are five in total.
Coronavirus cases and deaths have surged in Iran in the past several weeks, despite an ongoing vaccination drive. The surge has been mainly blamed on the public as many people do not observe social distancing rules and other health protocols. Iran Daily on Sunday published a report about the COVID-19 situation in the capital Tehran. The report mentions a number of instances that show how people fail to wear masks or they are in crowded places while failing to observe social distancing. The report also speaks with a citizen who is preparing to hold a party and has once survived the respiratory disease.
The daily writes that the disease continues to surge, despite the fact that more than 5.28 million doses of vaccine have been administered so far. On these days last year, daily virus deaths were around 87. But today, conditions are not like the past year despite vaccinations, and it is a disaster.
The daily further says 24-hour COVID-19 deaths are still three-digit, with more people losing their lives to the virus each day.
Iran reported its first cases of COVID-19 in February 2020. The country put restrictions to curb the disease but eased them in April that year partly because of their economic impacts. Some of the restrictions including a nighttime ban on traffic in hard-hit cities are still in place. Iran is also working on producing its own vaccines, in the wake of problems to receive enough shots from other countries. Iranian authorities blame the problems on bans caused by US sanctions on the country’s financial sector.