Iran's health officials said June 1 that a far-reaching coronavirus vaccination program will start in September. The statement was last in a series of unfulfilled promises with varying dates for a much-needed vaccination plan covering all members of the public.

According to the spokesman for Iran's National Coronavirus Task Force, Alireza Raisi, the public phase will kick off once several designated high-risk groups have received their two jabs. The program, he said, will continue until the end of 2021. 

Iran's rollout began with frontline medical staff in all hospitals nationwide in February. Months on, the piecemeal program has reached senior citizens at the age of 70, with only 3.7 million Iranians of the entire population of 85 million having received their first jab.

The vaccination has been administered with multiple imported products, the bulk of which has been supplied by Russian Sputnik V and the Chinese Sinopharm. But Iran has been hoping to accelerate the process using its own domestically developed vaccine, known as the COV Iran Barakat. The project has been spearheaded by the Executive Headquarters of the Imam Directive, a financial empire that only reports to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The center said it will have produced some 30 million doses by September.