On February 4, 2020, when China was struggling with this disease and had not yet entered Iran, my colleague Asghar Abdoli and I decided to study the newly-emerged virus and tried to understand its structure.

Of course, at that time, the only available document was the structure of the coronavirus released by China in global databases and the scientific backgrounds that were published about the previous strains, including SARS and MERS.

On March 28, the first case of the infection was confirmed in Iran when we started our work, he said, adding, after the investigations, we came to the conclusion that a vaccine can be developed.

Iran was the first country to acquire the knowledge of making a vaccine against the global pandemic.So, we went into the lab and tested multiple samples to find the best virus sample to isolate and purify. In mid-April, we managed to produce a sample of the vaccine candidate and entered the animal phase.

We conducted the pre-clinical trial on laboratory animals such as mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, and monkeys, we realized the effectiveness of the vaccine and decided to industrialize the existing vaccine candidate, he explained.

Then we were looking for a place to mass produce this vaccine, unfortunately, the biggest challenge we faced was the lack of proper infrastructure for the killed vaccine platform in the country.

Therefore, we fell behind in the stage of mass production. Just when we had access to the vaccine candidate, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine candidates were still undergoing animal studies, and we lagged behind other countries due to the lack of industrial infrastructure for vaccine production.

In fact, Iran was the first country to acquire the knowledge of making a vaccine against the global pandemic, because when we made the vaccine sample, China announced that the Sinovac vaccine was under construction using an inactive virus.

At that time, we talked to the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, and they started to create the infrastructure, and within six months, the infrastructure was built from scratch at Shafa Farmed Company.

The first clinical phase started on December 29, 2020, and after completing the clinical phases, it also obtained an emergency license, which was very effective compared to foreign vaccines, he said.

Vaccine generations

When we were checking the platforms, we were thinking of choosing the closest way to the destination.

And we came to the conclusion that our people prefer a vaccine that has a history of use. That’s why we worked on the killed vaccine.

For example, the polio vaccine is a vaccine that has both killed and live attenuated vaccines and has been used by a large number of people in Iran, and its side effects are less and better known.

But nevertheless, we were so innovative in this method that it was as if the killed vaccine was made in a new way, he stated.

Another generation is recombinant or protein vaccines. These are vaccines that take the gene of a part of the virus and express it in another cell and then formulate and inject it with an adjuvant, including, PastoCovac, Spicogen, Covo Pars, Novavax, and Noora.

Third-generation vaccines are also vaccines that are based on another virus, such as adenoviruses, which one of the vaccination groups in Iran worked on. This vaccine is used for the first time in human history. Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and Sputnik vaccines are the third generations.

The fourth type of vaccine is based on genes. In this gene model, a part of the virus that has pathogenic properties or an important part of the virus in binding or entering the host’s body is formulated in a gene carrier such as RNA or DNA and introduced into the human body. This model is the first time that it has entered public vaccination.

Vaccine production crossroad to scientific progress

Elsewhere in his remarks, he referred to the scientific importance of vaccines, noting that vaccine production is along the road to scientific progress, in the heart of which all sciences progress, from industrial sciences to biological sciences and pharmaceuticals, as well as medical sciences, and humanities.

“We overcame the industrial lag of previous years in one year to make the corona vaccine, which compensated for this lag in health technology and pushed it miles ahead,” he added.

It took a month until we were able to offer Barkat Plus from the day the Omicron strain was announced in Iran. This shows that our technical knowledge is up to date and this means progress.

Stating why there was no single vaccine manufacturer in Iran and the manufacturers did not gather to make a vaccine, he said that at that time, 19 groups were working on vaccine production and this was a big event.

Because the more different platforms and methods are tested, the more infrastructure will be produced and the best methods will become a science. So, it was scientific progress and this is a matter of pride.

Anyway, the country needed to acquire the technical knowledge of various vaccine production platforms, which were updated during the corona outbreak.

Leader gave confidence to our young technologists

The first person who injected this vaccine was me and my colleague because we believe that what we have made should be tested on ourselves first so that if there is a danger, the dear people of the country will not be harmed and dear Iranians trust the national vaccine, he noted.

Pointing to the decision of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to inject the Barkat vaccine, A’alizadeh said that in all his speeches in the field of elites and technologies, the Leader has always praised the support of Iranian elites’ products and has stated that “I will not fail to defend the elite society and the scientific movement of the country as long as I breathe.”

His work was a very big step in the advancement of the Barkat vaccine and gave confidence to the country’s young technologists. It is hoped that other officials of the country will also put this procedure at the top of their agenda, he added.

Articles in prestigious international Journals

In October 2021, an article on the pre-clinical and technical knowledge of COVIRAN Barkat was published in the prestigious international Journal of Medical Virology.

An article on the first two clinical trial phases of COVIRAN also was published in “BMJ Open”, a leading multidisciplinary medical journal.

However, the study of the third phase of the vaccine is on the path to publication and will soon be in international journals.

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COVIRAN BAREKAT, the first coronavirus vaccine made by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, was unveiled on December 29, 2020, and received the license for public use on June 14.

“The efficacy of the vaccine on the delta mutant in the neutralization test (cVNT) was evaluated and it found that those who received the vaccine had an effective antibody against the Indian variant,” he wrote, quoting Mohammad Reza Salehi, supervisor of the COVIRAN vaccine clinical trial.

Earlier this week, Alireza Biglari, head of the Pasteur Institute, announced that the Pastu Covac coronavirus vaccine, developed by the Pasteur Institute of Iran, fights very well against new variants of South Africa and India, and in other words, neutralizes them.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, for example, is normally about 70 percent effective, but against the South African strain it drops to 10 percent, but the Pastu Covac can provide up to 62 percent protection against these strains, he explained.

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, 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.

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

So far, injections have been performed on 10,500 volunteers in the provinces of Tehran and Alborz through the third phase of the human trial, Hassan Jalili, director of the vaccine research team, said.

The volunteers are announced to be 18-75 years old, he added.

“One million doses of the vaccine have been produced. By June, this number will reach 12 million doses per month, and in August, and by September we will produce 20 to 25 million doses of vaccine.”

South America, African countries, several neighboring and two European countries have asked to purchase COVIRAN vaccine, Jalili said.

Although, we are capable of exporting the vaccine, however, through the policies adopted by the Ministry of Health, no vaccine will be exported until the domestic need is fully met, he stated.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced that immunization against coronavirus by the domestic vaccine will start by the next week, ISNA reported on May 30.

Vaccination to end by late November

President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that 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.

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.

Homegrown vaccines

The second Iranian-made vaccine developed by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute (Razi Cov Pars) 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.

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Developed by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, the vaccine was unveiled on December 29, 2020, and started to be mass-produced on March 29.

If the third phase of the human test is successful, the vaccine will enter the market in mid-June, he stated, adding, COVIRAN BAREKAT will be the first homegrown vaccine to enter the market.

Out of 16 vaccine production cases, four cases will start mass-production and another three to four cases will succeed in receiving license by September, he said, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

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.

One of the vaccines is the Cuban-Iranian Soberana-02 vaccine, and the other is the Russian-Iranian Gamaleya vaccine, while the third joint vaccine will be produced in Iran in cooperation with Australia, Qanei further explained.

Iran started mass vaccination against COVID-19 with Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine on February 9; which is also going to be co-produced by the two countries.

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 Wednesday, Health Ministry’s spokesperson Sima-Sadat Lari confirmed 24,886 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 2,311,813. She added that 1,823,958 patients have so far recovered, but 4,991 remain in critical conditions of the disease.

During the past 24 hours, 388 patients have lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 67,913, she added.

So far, 14,739,719 COVID-19 diagnostic tests have been performed in the country.

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