TEHRAN – People aged 70 years and above and people with underlying diseases or immunodeficiency will receive the fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control.

In the last meeting, the National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control approved that in order to strengthen the safety level of at-risk groups, all people over 70 years of age and people with underlying diseases or immunodeficiency are asked to inject the vaccine in addition to the previous doses, Abbas Shiravjen, the Headquarters spokesman twitted on Saturday.

So far, 64,321,868 people have received the first dose, 57,535,805 people the second dose, and 27,14,796 people the third dose of the vaccine. So far, 148,872,469 doses have been injected across the country.

Iran is the sixth country in the world and the first country in West Asia to gain the ability to produce the Coronavirus vaccine. On April 5, Hamid Souri, an epidemiologist warned the seventh wave of Covid-19 may hit the country in mid-May.

Given the genetic changes that have taken place in BA.2 omicron, a more contagious variant; vulnerable people in the community are still at risk, and there is no evidence that the epidemic is disappearing, he further noted.

An epidemic is eliminated when the incidence of the virus in the community is limited and enters the eradication phase, he also added.

no cities in high-risk red zones

According to the latest announcement, no cities are at high risk of Covid infection.

The highest category on Iran’s coronavirus risk scale is the red zone, which reaches lower risk areas by orange, yellow, and blue zones.

Some 33 towns are in the orange zones, 321 in the yellow category, 94 cities are in blue zones, and no cities are red.

Iran is the sixth country in the world and the first country in West Asia to gain the ability to produce the Coronavirus vaccine.

Considering that five coronavirus vaccines have so far been produced domestically, Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, said in June 2021 that Iran is one of the few countries that has all vaccine production platforms.

A total of 21 knowledge-based companies are operating to produce 50 million doses of vaccine monthly and 600 million doses annually, IRNA quoted Bahram Daraei as saying on March 9.

Health Minister Bahram Einollahi has said the country is currently exporting domestically-made vaccines for coronavirus to ten African countries.

FB/MG