TEHRAN – All the tribespeople aged above 18 will be vaccinated against coronavirus by the end of the eighth calendar month Aban (November 21), deputy health minister Alireza Raisi said.

“By the end of Mordad (August 22) all the tribespeople aged over 50 will be vaccinated ahead of the national plan’s schedule, ad by the end of Shahrivar (September 22) all the people aged above 40 will be vaccinated,” he explained, IRNA reported on Monday.

There are 1,186,830 people living in 212,660 tribal families across the country, he noted.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki said in May that vaccination is going well in the country, and by the end of June, “we will vaccinate the target groups, including the population above 60, and the incurable and special patients.

Some 85 percent of the toll occurs among the elderly and those with underlying diseases so that vaccination will reduce at least 80 percent of the mortality, and then we will enter the vaccination phase of other age groups by both Iranian and imported vaccines.”

Over 14,000 hospital beds will be added to the health system by mid-August to sooner contain the coronavirus pandemic, Kianoush Jahanpour, head of the Information Center of the Ministry of Health, has said.

Moreover, 1,400 health projects will be inaugurated, which have been started 12 months ago, he stated.

This movement in less than 14 months in the most difficult conditions of sanctions and epidemic will be remembered as a record in the history of the health system of Iran, he noted.

President Hassan Rouhani said last month that if the volume of COVID-19 vaccine required by the country is provided, the vaccination of people with underlying diseases will be completed by late July, and the whole population will be vaccinated by late November.

To vaccinate people with underlying diseases, about 14-15 million doses of vaccine is required, while we now have 5 million doses, so another 10 million must be provided to complete the process by the end of July, then we will continue the process with foreign and domestic vaccines, he explained.

He expressed hope to start vaccination of the whole population by the end of the summer (September 23), noting that given the country's ability of vaccine administration, vaccinating 500,000 people in 24 hours, the entire population can receive the vaccine within three to four months.