Japan Intends to Donate “2.9 Million Doses” of AstraZeneca Vaccine to Iran
Japan intends to donate a total of 11 million doses of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine this current month through the COVAX program to Iran, Bangladesh, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and several island nations in the Pacific Ocean.
The Japanese Embassy in Tehran wrote in an Instagram message on Monday, July 12, that within the framework of this decision, “after completing all coordinations, 2.9 million doses” of this vaccine will be delivered to Iran.
The COVAX program, which is being pursued with the participation of 76 countries worldwide, is overseen by the World Health Organization and aims to assist in the purchase and more equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines in all countries of the world.
Japan has successfully procured 120 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the pharmaceutical company, with most of these doses to be produced by domestic factories in Japan.
Reuters reports that doses of AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in Japan have not yet been approved by the World Health Organization for use in the COVAX program, but Japan says it will proceed with sending batches of this type of vaccine to the aforementioned countries to address emergency vaccine supply requests from other nations.
According to Reuters, Japan will also send one million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to each of Indonesia, Taiwan, and Vietnam based on bilateral agreement programs.
The safety of the vaccine produced by “AstraZeneca,” which has been the main vaccine of the “COVAX” plan until now, was questioned some time ago due to blood clotting in a number of vaccine recipients, but the European Medicines Agency subsequently stated that the benefits of administering this vaccine continue to outweigh its very limited side effects.
Source: Radio Farda
