TEHRAN – The Japanese government has donated 700,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Iran through the COVAX facility.

On 28 December, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi announced that 700,000 additional doses of the Japanese AstraZeneca vaccine will be provided to Iran through COVAX, in response to the recent outbreak of a new variant of the virus worldwide.

“This will bring the total number of vaccines provided by Japan to approximately 3.6 million doses.

We do hope this additional vaccines Syringe, together with the emergency support from Japan to Iran totaling more than $40 million including the decision to provide 6 MRI s to the provinces such as Khuzestan and South Khorasan in October, as well as the provision of 14 CT scanners and other advanced medical equipment, will play a major role in the fight against coronavirus through cooperation between the two countries,” Embassy of Japan tweeted quoting the minister.

The COVAX Facility is a partnership, co-led by Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi-The Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organization (WHO), alongside key delivery partner United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

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