TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has returned 820,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines donated by Poland because they were manufactured in the United States, state TV reported Monday. TV quoted Mohammad Hashemi, an official in the country’s Health Ministry, as saying that Poland donated about a million doses of the British-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine to Iran.
Highlights
- Iran returns donated vaccines because they were made in US.
- Poland donated about a million doses of the British-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine.
- Iran is struggling with its sixth wave of coronavirus infections and authorities say the aggressive omicron variant is now dominant in the country.
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, in 2020 rejected any possibility of American or British vaccines entering the country, calling them “forbidden” Iran now only imports Western vaccines that are not produced in the U.S.
- or Britain.
- Hard-liners swept the parliament and railed against American-made vaccines.