Corona Archives - Iran News Daily

“Noora” vaccine successfully passing first phase of clinical trial

mahla — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 09:36:46 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – “Noora” coronavirus vaccine, domestically made by Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences affiliated to the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), is successfully passing the first phase of the clinical trial.

The recombinant vaccine entered the stage of human trial after 16 months of research work by Iranian scientists; it started the clinical trial on June 27.

The first dose of Noora vaccine has been injected into all volunteers and half of them have received the second dose so far, Hassan Abolqasemi, chancellor of Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, stated.

The vaccine is well undergoing the first phase of human testing, he noted, adding, the first phase of human testing lasts 2 months, so far more than a month has passed.

He stressed the need to integrate the human testing phase of the Noora vaccine and said that “this must be done to make the vaccine available for the mass vaccination; while many vaccine producing countries have done the same.”

Abolqasemi further expressed hope that permission would be given to combining the first and second phases of the human test, which could also be done for the second and third phases, IRNA reported on Saturday.

This vaccine has also been proven in the animal stage in terms of safety and immunity, he concluded.

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 13 million doses of foreign vaccines have already been imported and others are expected soon.

Iran is also producing vaccines jointly with two countries Russia, and Australia, which may also be released by September.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, 14 vaccines are being domestically developed in the country which are in different study phases.

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Iran condoles with Iraq over blaze at Baghdad hospital

mahla — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 13:05:07 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran has extended condolences to the Iraqi government and nation after scores of people were killed and injured when a huge fire broke out inside a coronavirus intensive care unit of a hospital in the capital Baghdad.

The fire sparked by an oxygen tank explosion killed at least 82 people and injured 110 at the hospital treating COVID-19 patients, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Sunday, revising up the earlier casualty count.

“I extend my sincere condolences to the brotherly government and people of Iraq and the families of the victims of the painful and tragic incident at Ibn Khatib Hospital in Baghdad. I ask God Almighty for mercy for the martyrs of this incident and immediate healing for the wounded,” he wrote in an Arabic tweet.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh also offered condolences to the Iraqi government and people, especially the families of the victims.

“We urgently need to review safety measures at all hospitals to prevent such a painful incident from happening in future,” the Iraqi ministry spokesman Khalid al-Muhanna told state television, announcing the toll.

The fire erupted on Saturday at the Ibn Khatib hospital in the Diyala Bridge area.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi declared three days of national mourning.

“Such an incident is evidence of negligence and therefore I directed that an investigation be launched immediately and for the hospital’s manager and the heads of security and maintenance to be detained along with all those concerned until we identify those negligent and hold them accountable,” he said in a statement.

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COVID-19 vaccination system to be launched

mahla — Sat, 24 Apr 2021 13:54:33 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – COVID-19 vaccination system to be launched. A comprehensive system will be launched in the country for coronavirus vaccination of the whole population, Alireza Raeisi, spokesman for the National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control, announced on Saturday.

People can express their occupation and illness on this website and be informed about the time of their vaccination, he explained.

He went on to add that by the end of July, mass vaccination will begin and all the people will be informed of when to receive the vaccine, IRNA reported on Saturday.

Iran started mass vaccination against COVID-19 with Sputnik V vaccine on February 9; which is also being co-produced by the two countries and will be released by the end of spring (June 21).

So far, 718,510 doses of coronavirus vaccine, including the first and second doses, have been injected in the country.

Iran is currently producing vaccines jointly with three countries of Cuba, Russia, and Australia, he noted, expressing hope that these vaccines can also be released by September.

Raeisi announced on Thursday that the sixth batch of the “Sputnik V” vaccine, including over 100,000 doses, has been sent to the country.

Of the total vaccines imported so far, we have received about 420,000 doses of Sputnik V, some 650,000 doses from China, and 125,000 from India. We also received 700,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccine from South Korea, so that a total of 1.895 million doses of vaccine have been provided to the Ministry of Health, he explained.

Homegrown vaccines

COVIRAN BAREKAT, the first coronavirus vaccine made by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam which was unveiled on December 29, 2020, started to be mass-produced on March 29.

The second Iranian coronavirus vaccine, Razi Cov Pars, which started the clinical trial on February 27, will be mass-produced in early August.

Fakhra vaccine, the third homegrown vaccine, was unveiled and started the clinical trial on March 16.

Homegrown vaccine “Osvid-19” produced by Osvah Pharmaceutical Company vaccine will also be available in early September.

On January 27, Health Minister Saeed Namaki said Iran will soon be one of the world’s important manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccine.

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Iran Registers 18,230 New Coronavirus Cases

mahla — Sat, 24 Apr 2021 13:47:39 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Iranian health ministry announced on Saturday that 18,230 new cases of coronavirus infection have been reported across the country during the past 24 hours, adding that 374 patients have passed away in the same period of time.

“A sum of 18,230 new patients infected with COVID-19 have been identified in the country based on confirmed diagnosis criteria during the past 24 hours,” Iranian Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on Saturday, and added, “2,912 patients have been hospitalized during the same time span.”

She added that the total number of COVID-19 patients has increased to 2,377,039.

“Unfortunately, 374 patients have lost their lives in the past 24 hours, increasing the number of the dead to 69,120,” the spokeswoman noted.

Lari expressed satisfaction that 1,863,405 coronavirus patients have recovered or been discharged from hospitals so far.

The spokeswoman further said that 5,156 cases infected with COVID-19 are in critical conditions.

She went on to say that 15,078,540 coronavirus diagnosis tests have so far been carried out across the country.

Lari warned that 301 cities are rated red, 95 cities are orange, 45 cities are yellow and 7 are blue.

Most of the Iranian cities and towns have been put under a partial lockdown on April 10 that would last for two weeks amid a fresh surge in cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Businesses, schools and gathering places would close down after a red alert was issued for all capitals of provinces and most cities and towns that indicates a rising wave in number of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

A handful of businesses and government departments whose services are deemed necessary for daily life of more than eighty million inhabitants of the country would remain open during the two-week partial lockdown.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said earlier this year that 3 home-made coronavirus vaccines produced by the country’s scientists will be mass-produced and injected to millions of Iranian nationals late in Spring or early Summer.

“We can almost say that next year, at the beginning of Summer or the end of Spring, we will have three vaccines (developed by the three institutes of) Barekat, Razi and Pasteur,” President Rouhani said, addressing a meeting of the national coronavirus campaign headquarters in Tehran.

“We will have these three domestic vaccines next (Iranian) year (which starts on March 20, 2021) and we hope to have some of them in the Spring and some in Summer, and from now until the end of the year, except for COVAX, which we will have our share of, we will import more than 16 million doses of vaccines,” he added.

Rouhani assured the nation that efforts are being made to start vaccination in the country in February, saying, “This is very important.”

He also stressed the necessity for meeting all protocols to prevent the spread of Britain-originated and South Africa-originated coronavirus vaccines.

Iranian Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi had earlier said that the country’s home-made coronavirus vaccines develop immunity against the new British virus too.

The home-made COVID-19 vaccines enjoy “satisfactory quality”, Harirchi said.

The vaccines are also effective against the British coronavirus, he said, adding that if the virus reveals new aspects, fresh research will be carried out.

Harirchi underlined that the Iranian private companies have achieved good success in manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccines.

Head of Iran’s Headquarters for Executing the Order of Imam (HEIKO) Mohammad Mokhber had also said that the volunteers who have received the country’s home-made coronavirus vaccine in the human trial phase have shown no side-effect yet.

Addressing a ceremony to unveil a number of home-made medicine produced by Barekat Foundation, Mokhber said that several people across the world have died after injection of the coronavirus vaccines produced by foreign companies.

“This is while the Iranian vaccine already tested on 14 volunteers has produced no side-effects until this moment,” he said.

“Given the laboratory research on this type of vaccine and the positive assessments of scientific aspects, the country will no doubt mass-produce the vaccine and we will grow self-sufficient in this regard,” Mokhber said.

He had said the country will mass-produce its domestically developed coronavirus vaccine within the next 3 months, declaring the start of the third phase of testing the home-made vaccine on volunteers.

Also, in January, Head of Pasteur Institute of Iran Alireza Biglari said that the country’s home-made vaccines will be ready for the nation’s vaccination late in spring if they pass all tests successfully.

“The Health Ministry is trying to provide the necessary vaccines from foreign sources for priority groups; also, really good efforts are being made to produce domestically-produced vaccines and co-produce them with other countries,” Biglari said.

“But regarding the domestically-produced vaccines, the most optimistic case is that we can have the domestically-produced vaccines for public vaccination in June if all plans succeed,” he added.

Biglari explained that Iran’s vaccine produced jointly with foreign states will go for extensive human trial phase in March, while public vaccination could start in June.

Rouhani said in June 2020 that over 1,000 medical centers in the country have received necessary equipment to conduct tests on people suspected of infection to coronavirus, and added that Iran ranks first in the Muslim world in scientific achievements.

“Based on a report [by the health ministry], 1,200 centers across the country are ready to take samples and tests from people and 17,500 nursing and health homes are also prepared to provide hygiene and treatment services to people,” Rouhani said, addressing a meeting of the national coronavirus campaign headquarters in Tehran.

Also, in August last year, he said that 1,500 hospital beds for special cases have also been added to the capacity of the country’s medical system since the outbreak of coronavirus in the country, noting that drug production lines are also added every month to the country’s pharmaceutical capacity.

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting approximately all countries and territories around the world. The virus was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late 2019. It has so far killed over 3.1 million people and infected over 146.3 million others globally.

The Iranian foreign ministry declared that despite Washington’s claims of cooperation to transfer drugs to Iran via the new Swiss-launched payment mechanism, the US is troubling the process amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Although US claims that medicines and medical equipment are not under sanctions, they have practically blocked the transfer of Iran’s financial resources in other countries into the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), former Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said.

As the death toll from the virus surges, Iran intensifies its preventive safety measures. Closures of schools and most universities have been extended until further notice.

Rouhani on September 12, 2020 blasted the US administration for blocking the country’s efforts to receive loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to fight against coronavirus, saying that the American officials have forgotten humanity.

“We demanded the IMF for $5bln to assist us during the coronavirus outbreak for vaccine and medicine; all parties have voiced their agreement, but the US does not allow us to take the loan. They have distanced themselves from humanity to such an extent,” Rouhani said.

He added that even the friendly states whose banks are holding Iran’s money have been pressured by the US not to provide the country with access to its assets.

“History has not witnessed such a crime, as you may not find any other country that cannot withdraw money from foreign banks to purchase and import medicine for its people,” Rouhani said.

He, meantime, said that the Americans are angry with the Iranian government’s appropriate management of the coronavirus outbreak despite the harshest-ever sanctions imposed on the country.

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new COVID-19 wave hits besieged Gaza: Red Cross

mahla — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 07:55:39 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The International Red Cross says Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip have been coping with an alarming increase in reported COVID-19 cases amid a critical shortage of essential medicines and medical equipment.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a report on Tuesday that hospitals in the Palestinian enclave were struggling with insufficient ICU capacity and had been under immense pressure to admit new patients.

Almost all of Gaza has been currently declared as a red zone by the Palestinian health authorities because of widespread community transmission, it said.

Gaza has faced more than 1000 new infections each day for the past couple of weeks, with positivity rates of between 30 percent and 38 percent for all tested persons.

Palestinian health workers have voiced serious concerns about the rising infections across Gaza.

“The situation is scary. Every day I see people dying of COVID-19. When I am at home, I do every possible recipe that I can think of that could increase the immunity of my children. I always wonder how to protect them and how to protect myself so that they don’t have to face my death,” a Palestinian nurse and a mother of four said.

Local authorities in the Gaza Strip struggled for months to lower the coronavirus infection rates through strict measures. However, the Israeli blockade has compounded the struggle of health workers in the occupied city, undermining their efforts to contain and track the spread of the virus.

Hundreds of Gazan patients have already lost their lives in recent years due to the Israeli regime’s inhumane practices under the watchful eye of the international community.

Experts say Tel Aviv must end its illegal policies and remove any barriers that may hinder Palestinians from accessing proper medical care.

In December last year, two dozen lawmakers of the European Parliament signed a petition launched by a rights group, calling on the Israeli regime to allow immediate entry of necessary equipment and medical supplies into Gaza to assist in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Israel also stands accused of practicing ‘vaccine apartheid.’

The regime does not provide jabs to the Palestinians, despite calls by several international organizations to ensure coronavirus vaccine doses are provided to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

As of Tuesday morning, Palestinian health authorities recorded 310,555 cases of the virus, including 3,319 deaths.

In an attempt to curb the spread of the virus, the Hamas resistance movement has imposed new restrictions on gatherings.

The Israeli regime has been keeping Gaza under an all-out siege since 2007, after Hamas won the elections and took over the coastal enclave’s affairs.

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Coronavirus cases, deaths surge worldwide

mahla — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 13:56:29 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The number of coronavirus cases across the globe has reached 142,059,494 with 3,034,222 deaths, while the United States still leads in this regard despite its pushing for nation-wide vaccinations.

Global trackers of the COVID-19 pandemic reported on Monday that the US had the highest COVID-19 death toll, followed by Brazil and India. The number of coronavirus cases in India, however, was higher than that of Brazil.

India’s capital Delhi on Monday imposed a week-long lockdown after a record spike — 24, 462 cases — overwhelmed the city’s healthcare system.

The country has been reeling from a deadly second wave since the start of April due to the emergence of the so-called double mutation virus.

“I have always been against lockdowns, but this one will help us amplify the number of hospital beds in Delhi,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a press conference on Monday.

He also appealed to the city’s migrant workers not to leave. Last year’s national lockdown saw millions of them heading back to their villages after they found themselves unemployed and running out of money.

In Brazil, 42,980 additional confirmed cases of the coronavirus were reported in the past 24 hours, along with 1,657 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.

Brazil has registered more than 13.9 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 373,335, according to ministry data.

The US is the only country that has more COVID deaths than Brazil with a death toll of more than 567,000.

In the meantime, the US reported on Sunday that just over half of its adult population had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

To further push the vaccination campaign, former US President Barack Obama, Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, and a number of American celebrities are expected to appear on Sunday night on “Roll Up Your Sleeves,” a nationally televised special aimed at decreasing vaccine hesitancy in the United States.

Not getting vaccinated poses a “critical threat to our national security and public health,” a group of lawmakers led by California Rep. Jimmy Panetta said earlier.

Around 25 percent of the US population are opposed to being vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, according to a poll by Monmouth University.

In Iran, the daily death toll from the coronavirus has risen and hospitals in the capital and elsewhere are getting filled up.

The Health Ministry on Sunday confirmed more than 21,000 new infections, reporting 405 deaths from the coronavirus. The country reported 398 new COVID-19 deaths on Monday, raising the death toll to over 67,000.

Iran’s vaccination efforts are dependent on a range of domestically-made and foreign vaccines. Despite the challenges due to the harsh sanctions imposed on the nation, many members of the medical staff and special groups in high-risk situations have been vaccinated so far.

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Cuban coronavirus vaccine to start third clinical trial phase in Iran

mahla — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 13:31:48 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Cuba-Iran Soberana-02 COVID-19 vaccine received a code of ethics to start the third phase of the clinical trial in Iran, according to the Ministry of Health.

Manufactured by Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute and Pasteur Institute of Iran, the vaccine is a conjugate vaccine with two injectable doses. It consists of the receptor-binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein conjugated chemically to tetanus toxoid.

The two first phases of the human trial have been conducted in Cuba, while the third phase will be performed on a population of 18 to 80 years in Iran, and Mexico.

On March 11, some 100,000 doses of the Cuban vaccine, were delivered to Iran, as part of Havana’s cooperation program with other countries to develop the vaccine.

The vaccine is to be produced jointly with Cuba after vaccinating 50,000 Iranians and studying the results at the Pasteur Institute of Iran.

Alireza Raeisi, spokesman for the National Headquarters for Coronavirus control said that so far, a total of 1,895,000 doses of vaccine has been delivered to the country, including, 420,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia, 650,000 doses of vaccine from China, 125,000 doses from India, 700,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccine from South Korea (from the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility).

According to the latest announcement of the Ministry of Health, 376,684 people have received the first dose of Corona vaccine and 121,803 people the second dose of the vaccine in Iran.

Homegrown vaccines

The second Iranian coronavirus vaccine, Razi Cov Pars, which started the clinical trial on February 27, will be mass-produced in early August.

Fakhra vaccine, the third homegrown vaccine, was unveiled and started the clinical trial on March 16.

On January 27, Health Minister Saeed Namaki said Iran will soon be one of the world’s important manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccine.

New cases and mortalities

In a press briefing on Sunday, Health Ministry’s spokesperson Sima-Sadat Lari confirmed 21,644 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 2,237,089. She added that 1,785,358 patients have so far recovered, but 4,766 remain in critical conditions of the disease.

During the past 24 hours, 405 patients have lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 66,732, she added.

So far, 14,386,423 COVID-19 diagnostic tests have been performed in the country.

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Iran underlines need for security stability in Balkans

mahla — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 12:34:30 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran underlines need for security stability in Balkans. In his meeting with the Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selaković, Iranian President Rouhani pointed to bilateral issues and international developments.

In addition to scientific cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus, Rouhani noted that Iran has always supported Serbia’s national unity.

The Iranian President also emphasized the need to strengthen international cooperation between Tehran and Belgrade.

Stating that the Islamic Republic of Iran believes in the need to maintain peace, stability, and security in the Balkans and the peaceful coexistence of all ethnicities and races, Rouhani said: “Fighting terrorism and establishing peace, stability, and security requires the full cooperation and efforts of all countries.”

Referring to the three-year illegal US sanctions against Iran, Rouhani said regarding the changes in the international arena and the expression of the new US administration’s desire to return to the JCPOA, removal of the sanctions, a new atmosphere will be created for Iran’s economic cooperation and interaction with the world.

During the meeting, the Serbian Foreign Minister stressed that his country has always been determined for friendly relations with Iran, and emphasized the development and deepening of relations between the two countries in areas of interest.

“We have always supported and continue to support the peace process and the peaceful goals of the Iranian nuclear program,” he said, “We hope that the related problems to this agreement will be resolved as soon as possible.”

Selaković also added that the Serbian President is really eager on paying a visit to Tehran and will do so after the pandemic.

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Iran to administer 1.4m coronavirus vaccine doses by Friday

mahla — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 06:08:13 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran to administer 1.4m coronavirus vaccine doses by Friday. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says approximately 1.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines will be administered in the country by Friday, in a bid to vaccinate high-risk groups.
“By [Friday], approximately 1.4 million vaccines will be injected, God willing,” Rouhani said in remarks on Friday.
He said the first high-risk group, which includes 7 to 8 million people older than 65, will be soon vaccinated in Iran.

After they are vaccinated, the president continued, “we will move ahead to the second [high-risk] group.”
“All the efforts are aimed at, God willing, importing vaccines and providing people with them … and then the people would be able to move on from this issue toward a more promising future,” he added.
Later in the day, the Iranian Health Ministry said 319 more people had died of the highly infectious disease in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recorded deaths from the virus in Iran to 66,327. The ministry also announced 21,312 new cases.

Earlier this month, Rouhani recalled the difficulties of importing sanctions, saying, “Wherever there is a vaccine, we immediately provide money to purchase it.”

“I want to say that this is not a simple matter,” he said. “The administration, the Health Ministry and the Central Bank have taken all the necessary measures … and I stress that nothing comes before the issue of vaccines for us.”

Elsewhere in his Saturday remarks, Rouhani said his administration has made great efforts to develop a homegrown vaccine as soon as possible.
“We are very hopeful that we’d be able to use the domestic vaccine in summer,” the president added.
Last month, the Islamic Republic unveiled a new COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Defense Ministry’s research center. The first phase of the human trial of the vaccine, dubbed Fakhra, was launched during a ceremony in Tehran on March 16.

In addition to Fakhra, Iran has developed three other vaccines, including Coviran Barekat developed by experts at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of Imam Khomeini, Razi COV-Pars vaccine developed by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, and Soberana 2 vaccine which is a joint venture between Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute and Iran’s Pasteur Institute.

Iran OK’s phase 3 of Soberana 2’s clinical trial

Also on Saturday, the spokesman for Iran Food and Drug Administration (IFDA) announced that the Iranian Health Ministry has issued a Code of Ethics for phase 3 of the clinical trial research of Soberana 2 vaccine.
“Phase 3 of the clinical trial of this vaccine is the last stage of the studies of this candidate … and if the results are successful and approved, a mass production and consumption license will be issued,” Kianoush Jahanpour told IRIB news.
Jahanpour said phase 3 of the trial began in Cuba a month ago and 48,000 people have so far received the vaccine in that country.
The vaccine “has shown significant safety and efficacy in phases 1 and 2 of its clinical trials and appears to be somehow unique,” he added.

Iran finalizes deal with Russia to import 60 doses of Sputnik V

On Thursday, Iran’s envoy to Moscow said Iran has finalized a contract with Russia to import 60 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in the coming months.

Kazem Jalali said the contract was signed between the Iranian Embassy in Moscow and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to buy 60 million doses of the vaccine, which is enough to vaccinate 30 million people.

He also said Iran will receive the vaccines within seven months (May 22-December 21).

Earlier, the head of the RDIF had announced that the production of the Sputnik V will soon be organized in Iran, Serbia and Italy within months.

“The Russian vaccine is already being manufactured in Belarus and Kazakhstan. Production will soon begin in Serbia and Iran. Thus, we sign partnerships with various countries and companies. Apart from that, we expect the vaccine production to be organized at Adienne Pharma & Biotech Italian plant within several months,” Kirill Dmitriev said.

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Iran to Start 2nd Phase of Coronavirus Vaccination in May

mahla — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 08:49:19 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian Deputy Health Minister Alireza Rayeesi said that the second phase of public vaccination against COVID-19 in Iran will start early in May.

Rayeesi said on Wednesday that around 1.3 million people will be inoculated against COVID-19 by early next month when the government plans to announce the end of the first phase of vaccinations.

Iran estimates that some 13.3 million people will be immunized against COVID-19 during the second phase. The population includes six million people who are above 65 and those between 16 and 64 who have at least one underlying condition.

The nationwide vaccination campaign against COVID 19 began in Iran in late December after the country took delivery of a first batch of Sputnik V vaccines from Russia. The campaign has also used jabs developed in China and India although some shipments have failed to make it into the country because of tight supplies in the countries of origin.

Rayeesi said ending the first round of vaccinations, which has covered frontline healthcare workers and people with very high risk of catching COVID-19, had been made possible after Iran received a shipment of 700,000 vaccines from COVAX, an international vaccine project sponsored by the World Health Organization.

Iran has placed orders for 16.8 million doses of vaccines under COVAX despite restrictions facing the country because of US sanctions which make it almost impossible to transfer funds through the international banking system.

Iran would need 29.5 million vaccine doses to finish the second round of inoculations and authorities hope they would be able to use home-made jabs to deliver on the job

A major Iranian factory mandated to produce the country’s main coronavirus vaccine (COV-Iran) is nearly ready as officials promise it would reach a production capacity of 12-15 million doses per month in late June.

Head of the COV-Iran Barekat vaccine project at the Headquarters for Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (HEIKO) Hassan Jalili said earlier this month that the construction of buildings and premises of the factory that will manufacture the vaccine has already finished, adding that the factory will produce 12-15 million doses of the vaccine per month in early summer.

He said that around a third of the machinery needed in the plant to scale up vaccine manufacturing has been installed, adding that another 20 percent of the equipment are being set up so that the factory would be ready according to a pre-announced timetable.

“As we had promised, we will bring the semi-industrial production capacity of the vaccine to three million doses per month in the spring,” Jalili said.

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