TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday that the country is facing no red lines in importing coronavirus vaccines, even Pfizer and Moderna.

“Of course, the health ministry has always been the sole authorized and eligible source for approving the vaccines which are allowed to be imported, and the foreign affairs ministry has used all its facilities towards this goal,” Khatibzadeh said speaking at his weekly press briefing on Monday.

One of the strategies of the new administration is to take advantage of approaches that are not dependent on the nuclear deal in order to ensure the economic interests of the country, he said, adding that the same strategy was adopted regarding imports of coronavirus vaccines.

“We have proceeded to import tens of millions of doses of vaccines through COVAX and cooperation with countries such as China,” he explained.

Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, head of the Iranian Food and Drug Administration, said on September 10 that not any number of Pfizer vaccines have been imported to the country so far, ISNA reported.

So, any vaccine sold under Pfizer in the open market is counterfeit, he emphasized.

Pfizer Public Relations even announced in a statement that Pfizer is only traded by governments and not provided to private sectors of any country. They even announced that what is sold in the Iranian market as Pfizer is fake, he explained.

“It should be noted that the storage temperature of the Pfizer is minus 70 degrees Celsius and it has special conditions for transportation,” concluded Shanehsaz.

Earlier in August, Alireza Raisi, the spokesman for the National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control, said that negotiation was underway with one or two European countries to purchase Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines.

In his August 11 televised address, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested that containing the rapidly increasing wave of the Coronavirus is the first and foremost issue of the country.

Placing great emphasis on the fulfillment of duties and the implementation of decisions regarding the Coronavirus pandemic, Ayatollah Khamenei said “the vaccine, whether imported or domestically produced, must be provided with double effort and in any way possible made available to all people."

"Fortunately, with the production of the domestic vaccine, its foreign import route is also paved, while before that, despite the payment for the vaccine, foreign sellers failed to fulfill their commitments," the Leader said, urging officials to take importation and production of vaccine seriously.

MG