TEHRAN (Iran News) – Leader Receives Iranian-Made COVID-19 Vaccine. Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Seyed Ali Khamenei received the Iranian-made COVIran Barekat vaccine on Friday morning.

The vaccine has recently received the injection permit and made Iran the sixth producer of the coronavirus vaccines.

After the injection, Ayatollah Khamenei thanked the minister of health and all the medical staff of the country for their efforts.

He said that he had waited for the Iranian vaccine to be produced and also for his turn to receive his injection.

He said “as long as there is the chance for prevention and treatment inside the county, why should we not use it?”

Thanking the Iranian scientists for producing the vaccine, he added that it is OK to use the foreign-made vaccines, but we should respect the Iranian ones.

The Supreme Leader also said that he insisted that he receive the dose in his turn, adding that thank God, most of the people above 80 have already received their doses.

On Thursday the official website of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said the Leader was to receive a first dose of the domestically-produced CovIran Barekat vaccine in the coming days.

Khamenei.ir carried the report, citing Dr. Alireza Marandi, president of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“The Leader lays especial emphasis on the use of Iranian vaccine. This vaccine is the result of young Iranian scientists’ endeavor and enjoys a high immunization level,” Marandi said.

The official said Ayatollah Khamenei did not have any objection to receiving vaccination from the onset of the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis.

The Leader had, however, set two prior conditions, insisting not to receive the remedy outside the schedule that had been devised for the rest of Iranians in the first place, Marandi noted. Secondly, Ayatollah Khamenei had required to receive only Iranian remedy, he added.

“Therefore, once the vaccination process involving the Iranian countrymen above 80 years of age began, the Leader refused to receive foreign vaccine and waited for the Iranian one,” the official stated.

Marandi pointed out that Ayatollah Khamenei was to have a first dose of the Iranian vaccine administered, while the Iranians fitting within the age bracket had already received their first dosage from the country’s imported vaccine reserves.

The website hailed that the scientists, who had produced CovIran Bareket, were all among those, who had studied at domestic academic institutes. It added that production of the cure had made Iran the sixth country across the world to score the achievement after India, China, the UK, the U.S., and Russia, and the first West Asian nation to triumph in the area.

The Iranian vaccine was approved for emergency mass application by the country’s Health Ministry earlier this month.

Simultaneously, the Shafa Pharmed pharmaceutical complex that has been working on the cure as part of a project led by the Headquarters for the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order, a charitable organization, released an official report, verifying its high level of effectiveness.