TEHRAN (Iran News) – Vaccination against coronavirus to end by late November. 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, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday.
Highlighting that vaccination in the country has a special order, he said that mass vaccination started from the elderly aging 80 years or above, then people above 70 years old received the vaccine and on the next stage, people aging 65 and older will be the target group.
With vaccination of people above 60, virus mortality will reduce sharply, and the situation will be much better than it is today, he added.
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.
He further warned of the fourth wave of the pandemic, calling one the people for more adherence to health guidelines and combat the virus.
Mass vaccination against COVID-19 started on Iranian citizens with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine on February 9.
While Iran continues efforts to mass-produce local candidates, several foreign vaccines have already been imported and others are expected soon.
Iran is also producing vaccines jointly with three countries of Cuba, Russia, and Australia, which may also be released by September.
Domestic vaccines
COVIRAN BAREKAT, the first coronavirus vaccine made by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, will complete the third phase of the human trial by late June.
The vaccine was unveiled on December 29, 2020, and started to be mass-produced on March 29.
Meanwhile, a vaccine developed by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute (Razi Cov Pars) is expected to become the second Iranian-made vaccine to be administered among the population in early August; which started the clinical trial on February 27, entered the second phase of the human trial on Friday.
Iran has also successfully completed the first phase of the human trial for Fakhra vaccine, the third domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, named after nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (he was assassinated in November 2020 near Tehran), that was unveiled and started the clinical trial on March 16.
“Osvid-19”, the fourth domestic vaccine produced by Osvah Pharmaceutical Company is also undergoing human trials, which will also be available in early September.
On May 24, the first coronavirus vaccine made by the private sector in Iran succeeded in receiving the code of ethics and entered the phase of clinical studies.
