Tehran: The United States is actively trying to prevent Iran’s efforts to buy a coronavirus vaccine through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX), an international initiative undertaken by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the chief of Iran’s central bank.
Abdolnasser Hemmati on Monday said it must be “recorded in historical memory” that Iranian efforts to buy a vaccine through COVAX have been hampered due to money transfer issues arising due to the sanctions imposed by the US against Iran.
“So far, any methods to make payment and transfer the required currency have faced obstacles due to the inhumane sanctions of the US government and the need to obtain permits from OFAC,” Hemmati wrote in an Instagram post, referring to the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury.
He said that the International Monetary Fund has refused to give humanitarian loans to Iran because of US pressure and threats. Despite this, Iran is trying to find other means of transferring funds and alternative avenues for obtaining the vaccine.
He further said, “The Ministry of Health is negotiating the issue of purchasing the vaccine from other countries. The news about the development of an indigenous corona virus vaccine is encouraging. ‘ So far, more than 10.51 lakh people have been infected by the epidemic in Iran and 50,594 people have died.”
On the other hand, in the world where 6.76 crore people have been affected by the global pandemic corona virus, 64.35 percent i.e. 4.35 crore people have been freed from this epidemic, while more than 15.43 lakh people have died. According to data released by John Hopkins University’s Center for Science and Engineering (CSSE), the Corona virus has infected 6,75,59,804 people and killed 15,43,803 people in 192 countries around the world.
More than 1.49 crore people have been infected in the most affected states of Corona, while more than 57.14 lakh people got cured and 2,83,658 patients have died. The number of infected in India has been around 97.03 lakhs. At the same time, the number of people who got cured has increased to 91.78 lakhs, while the death toll has increased to 1,40,978 with the death of 385 more patients.The number of people infected with corona in Russia has reached close to 24.67 lakhs and the number of people getting rid of this epidemic has gone up to more than 19.39 lakhs, while 43,122 people have died so far.