Iran's President Accuses Trump Of Impeding Start Of National Vaccination

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2021) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday has accused US outgoing President Donald Trump of impeding Iran's plan of the nationwide vaccination against COVID-19, stressing that the vaccination will start despite the US sanctions.

"If it were not for sanctions, barriers and restrictions by the Trump administration, purchasing of vaccines would certainly begin sooner, and that was the crime that the Americans committed against the Iranian people," Rouhani said as quoted by his office.

The president added that the national vaccination would start in accordance with the country's strategy after the first batch of vaccines arrived in Iran in the coming weeks.

In December, Iran reserved 16.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine through COVAX Facility, but failed to pay for them as the US delayed Iran's transaction, leaving Tehran with no vaccines, according to the country's health ministry.

On January 9, Rouhani said that Iran developed a four-phased strategy of the nationwide vaccination against COVID-19, with frontline medical workers and disabled people being among the first to get a vaccine. According to the Iranian Health Ministry, the country expected to roll out its first domestic vaccine by the spring and would try to purchase vaccines from Russia, China or India.