Armenia flooded with Iranians after they flock to neighbouring nation for free COVID jabs

As Iranians are reportedly facing a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines at home, most of them are seen rushing to neighbouring Armenia in massive numbers to get inoculated free of cost. Armenia has presently approved at least three COVID-19 vaccines including Russia’s Sputnik V, China’s CoronaVac and AstraZeneca’s vaccine. 

Initially, the Asian country offered them without any cost to foreign visitors prompting Iranians to resort to Armenia. As per reports, the Armenian Tourism Committee has said that over 8,500 Iranian nationals had visited in June, which was a surge from at least 5,000 in May. Armenia, the ex-Soviet Caucasus nation, has been reportedly rolling out free doses of COVID-19 vaccines to tackle the sluggish inoculation due to widespread hesitancy regarding the jabs. 

As per The Associated Press report, Ahmad Reza Bagheri, a 23-year-old jeweller at a bus stop in Tehran, said, “I just want her to get the jab as soon as possible,” while pointing towards her diabetic mother who he was joining on the winding 20-hour road trip to the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Meanwhile, Armenian TV reported long queues of Iranians at mobile vaccination units in Yerevan and some of the foreign nationals said that they waited for several nights to get inoculated. 

Foreign tourists amount to half of total inoculated

Just last week, Acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that foreigners including residents have accounted for up to 50% of about 110,000 people who were vaccinated in the country. Meanwhile, as Iran has the highest COVID-19 death toll in the Middle East region, less than 2% of the country’s 84 million people have received the COVID-19 pandemic, as per the scientific publication Our World in Data.

Even though the sanction hit Iran has imported some Russian and Chinese jabs and joined the UN-backed COVAX program for vaccine sharing and developed three of its doses, the jabs remain scarce. Iranian authorities have yet to inoculate nonmedical workers and those under the age of 60 but the officials have vowed that the mass vaccinations will start in September, a move not agreeable to most Iranians who are reaching Armenia.

IMAGE: AP