The head of Iran Veterinary Organization’s Headquarters to Fight Bird Flu said the country has imported 10 million doses of vaccines.

Axar.az reports citing IRNA.

The mentioned amount of vaccines has been shipped into the country in the past 20 days, Karim Ghaeni said.

He added that the country was supposed to take delivery of the doses before the start of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21) to combat the bird flu pandemic.

The doses will be distributed across the country to prevent the avian flu in chickens, Ghaeni said.

"In the first six months of the year, the avian flu virus is contained, but it will spread fast in the second six months and preventive measures are necessary," he explained.

Iran’s Ministry of Health detected flu in birds in 15 Iranian provinces and prohibited the use of local poultry products nationwide in 2017.

The H5N8 strain of bird flu is deadly for poultry but has not been detected in humans. The virus has spread across Europe and the Middle East since late last year and led to the culling of hundreds of thousands of poultry.