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).
Iran is one of the self-financing participant countries of the COVAX Facility.
The consignment is the second COVAX shipment to the country, with future consignments of the approved allocation of COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of the Islamic Republic of Iran, through UNICEF procurement channel.
The AstraZeneca vaccines for Iran, manufactured by Catalent Anagni of Italy, landed at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport on Sunday, May 16, and were received by representatives of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in presence of the UNICEF and WHO technical teams.
With support of UNICEF procurement channel under the COVAX facility, Iran received the first batch of AZ COVID-19 vaccines, produced by SK-Bio Institute of South Korea, containing 700,800 doses on April 5.