TEHRAN (Iran News) – The lambda variant of COVID-19 has not been reported in Iran so far, Alireza Zali, the head of the Coronavirus Control Operations Headquarters in Tehran, has said.
Referring to the fact that the lambda variant has been identified in about 40 countries worldwide, he said: “Although the [lambda] virus cases of infection have been seen in our neighboring countries, no traces of the mutated virus have been reported inside the country so far,” IRNA reported on Tuesday.
The Coronavirus Control Operations Headquarters has decided to exert tougher measures along borders and launch broader quarantine centers at land and air passenger terminals, he explained.
Lambda variant was first reported in December 2020. The number of cases reported from this variant is increasing in different countries, indicating it to be highly transmissible.
Domestically-made vaccines
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, over 21 million doses of foreign vaccines have already been imported and others are expected soon.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, 14 vaccines are being domestically developed in the country which are in different study phases.
COVIRAN BAREKAT, the first Iranian-made coronavirus vaccine, is in the process to be registered by the World Health Organization, Asghar Abdoli, an expert in the vaccine production project, has stated.
The whole process of the vaccine development and clinical trials must be presented in detail from the beginning, which we are doing, he said, adding, “in addition to presenting the documents, we must also defend our scientific achievements in person.”
“Our first article on the pre-clinical phase of COVIRAN vaccine will be published soon.”
Vaccine development technical knowledge is native to the country. In other words, the whole process is carried out in Iran, he noted.
The Iranian-Australian coronavirus vaccine Spikogen started the third phase of the clinical trial with the participation of 17,000 people on August 7.
The first phase of the study was performed on volunteer Australians and received the necessary approval, the second phase was administrated to 400 Iranians, which has had no serious side effects, Payam Tabarsi, researcher of the vaccine study project said.
The second human testing showed good results, with 70 percent antibody, he stated, adding, the delta variant is now very strong and many vaccines have not been effective against the mutant.
Iran is also producing vaccines jointly with two countries of Cuba and Russia, which may also be released by September.
The Iranian-made Sputnik vaccine is undergoing the final testing phase, and Pastu Covac received the emergency use license.
