COVIRAN, 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.

Though the first phase of vaccination, only volunteers will receive the vaccine, Namaki further stated.

Today, our homegrown vaccines are the most harmless without any side effects. So, in less than a year, we were able to join the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers, he emphasized.

He went on to note that “fortunately, vaccination is going well in the country, and by the end of June, we will vaccinate the target groups, including the population above 60, and the incurable and special patients.

Some 85 percent of the toll occurs among the elderly and those with underlying diseases so that vaccination will reduce at least 80 percent of the mortality, and then we will enter the vaccination phase of other age groups by both Iranian and imported vaccines.”

Some 1 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.

Seven countries seeking to purchase Iranian vaccine

South America, African countries, several neighboring and two European countries have asked to purchase COVIRAN vaccine, Hassan Jalili, director of the vaccine research team 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.

14,000 more hospital beds to pace up coronavirus fight

Over 14,000 hospital beds will be added to the health system by mid-August to sooner contain the coronavirus pandemic, Kianoush Jahanpour, head of the Information Center of the Ministry of Health, announced.

Moreover, 1,400 health projects will be inaugurated, which have been started 12 months ago, he stated.

This movement in less than 14 months in the most difficult conditions of sanctions and epidemic will be remembered as a record in the history of the health system of Iran, he noted.

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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The projects include the production of 27 biological medicine, 12 vaccine development, and 90 pharmaceutical raw materials through knowledge-based companies. The Vice Presidency for Science and Technology will also support the plans financially and commercially.

The Biotechnology Development Council is also working to accelerate the implementation of such programs by concluding a memorandum of understanding with capable companies to set production priorities, accelerate and lead start-ups, and provide financial support.

Currently, over 5,700 knowledge-based companies are active in Iran, manufacturing diverse products to meet the needs of the domestic market while saving large amounts of foreign currency, in addition to export the items.

The fields of aircraft maintenance, steel, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment, oil, and gas are among the sectors that researchers in technology companies have engaged in, leading to import reduction.

Irani ranks 12th in biotechnology 

Iran is ranked 12th in the world and first in West Asia in terms of biotechnology, as 9.5 percent of the income of knowledge-based companies and more than 60 percent of their exports are related to biotechnology.

Foreign exchange savings of $1 billion per year by producing 22 biopharmaceuticals, gaining the first rank in biotechnology products and vaccines in West Asia, and the presence among the top five biotechnology producers in Asia are among the country’s achievements, Mostafa Ghanei, secretary of the biotechnology development office of the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, said in October 2020.

So far, 27 biotechnology medicines, 12 vaccine projects, 90 pharmaceutical raw materials, and 55 projects in agriculture and food security have been implemented in order to gain a 3 percent market share and biotechnology assistance to the development of the economy, he explained.

Some 8 major companies are responsible for managing the country’s 117 priority products in the fields of biopharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical raw materials, vaccines, probiotics, equipment, and chemical drugs, he emphasized.

Pharmaceutical capabilities

Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, head of the Food and Drug Administration, said in January that the Iranian pharmaceutical industry and scientists are capable of producing any kind of medicine over a two-year period.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki said that some 97 percent of the whole medicine consumed in the country is produced domestically and only 3 percent is imported.

Sourena Sattari Vice President for Science and Technology, also said that “Iran plays a leading role in the field of biotechnology in the region, with the production of 24 biotech medicine.

Ismail Ghaderifar, head of the center for strategic technologies development of the vice presidency of science and technology added that under sanctions in the most difficult conditions, Iran combatted the pandemic and knowledge-based companies could make the country independent. Moreover, they managed to produce pharmaceutical items required by the country’s health system.

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Since the beginning of the new crisis in Gaza, the Red Crescent Society has begun its activities in defense of civilians, IRNA reported on Tuesday.

IRCS will allocate up to $100,000 medical equipment in the first phase for the Gazans, and in the coming days, with the help of the benefactors, will provide more medical equipment and medicines.

Earlier on May 17, Iran’s Emergency Services Organization announced readiness to provide medical treatment for the victims of the Zionist regime’s brutal attacks on Gaza.

“Iran’s Emergency Services is ready to send medical teams in order to help the Gazans wounded in the wake of Israel’s brutal attacks and it is doing its best to transfer the injured to Iran for treatment if necessary,” the organization’s head Pir Hossein Kolivand wrote in a letter to Health Minister Saeed Namaki.

On May 6, the Israeli Supreme Court decided a forced eviction of the Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. The Palestinians protested over the unfair ruling, as they were forced to leave their homes.

Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, and dispersed the Palestinian worshippers elsewhere in East Jerusalem. Israel has been heavily bombing Gaza since last Monday, in which 212 Palestinians have been killed so far, including 61 children and 35 women, and 1,400 Palestinians were also injured.

The Palestinian resistance has also launched rain rockets in the occupied territories in response to the Israeli aggression and attacks on Gaza.

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Eslami said that all tourism agencies must comply with the Coronavirus National Headquarters regulations banning any tour to Turkey, as normal flights to and from Turkey are still operating because of trading issues.

Iran’s Khuzestan Province has gone red in terms of coronavirus spread, he said, adding that travels to and from Iraq was prohibited due to the health situation in Khuzestan province.

He further said that teams are settled on border crosses to do coronavirus tests to stop infected people on entry.

He added that the ban on UK flights is still in place and that it wasn’t still known when Turkey tours would resume operation.

Meanwhile Coronavirus Headquarters member said on Sunday that the Iraq passenger travel ban has been extended until April 20 due to intensified virus spread.

Hossein Qassemi, Secretary of Security-Social Committee in Coronavirus Headquarters said that the decision to extend the passenger travel ban to and from Iraq was taken to avoid negative impacts on civil projects.

According to the decision, the official said, only those who have residence authentication, educational, healthcare, and investment visas and business persons with business visas can cross the Iran-Iraq border.

Later yesterday, Health Ministry spokeswoman announced in her presser that in the past 24 hours, 258 COVID-19 patients had lost their lives, the highest daily toll since early December, bringing the total death toll to 64,690.

“According to definitive laboratory findings from yesterday to April 11, 2021, 2,070,141 people in the country have been infected with the coronavirus, and 1,710,974 of the total infected people recovered,” Sima Sadat Lari stated.

She added that newly diagnosed patients with COVID-19 were 21,063 cases, out of whom 2,780 patients were hospitalized.

4,392 COVID-19 patients are in critical condition.

“So far, 13,673,466 COVID-19 diagnosis tests have been conducted across the country,” the Health Ministry spokeswoman noted.

According to the latest analysis, 257 cities are in red, 129 in orange, 51 are in yellow, and 11 are in the blue zones.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki, in a televised news conference, warned about more fatalities in the coming week if Iranians fail to adhere to health protocols.

On Saturday, authorities were forced to impose fresh nationwide restrictions after lack of control over travels during the Persian New Year holidays last month led to an explosive rise in COVID-19 cases.

Starting Saturday, all regions across Iran will undergo various degrees of restrictions based on how they have been classified under a color-coded scale denoting the severity of outbreaks.

Iran’s coronavirus map looks like a sea of red as more than 250 cities, including all 32 province centers, are now classified “red”, indicating the highest level of severity.

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IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

TEHRAN – The Iranian minister of health said he has good news about a vaccine being developed in the country for the coronavirus disease, saying the world would hear the news of such a breakthrough in the coming weeks.

Speaking at a press conference in Tehran on Sunday, Saeed Namaki said he has good news about the coronavirus vaccine being made in Iran.

The Health Ministry is going to inform the World Health Organization about Iran’s advances in the process of developing the coronavirus vaccine, he added.

The news of the breakthrough that Iran has made in making the vaccine will be announced to the world as a major national achievement, the minister said.

Officials say a number of vaccines for the novel coronavirus being developed in Iran have successfully passed the human tests and are ready for clinical trial.

Namaki also stated that the U.S. has imposed cruel and aggressive sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Responding to question on the impact of U.S. sanctions amid the COVID-19 outbreak, he expressed that the U.S. is telling a blatant lie for not sanctioning Iran’s medicine, and the US is a compulsive liar.

“The U.S. has never waivered sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Trump administration and his team are the most wild and aggressive administration in the U.S. ever,” he said.

“Despite sanctions, Iran faces no shortage of medicine,” he underlined.

“Iran can produce ‘Remdesivir’ and ‘Favipiravir’ and these medicines are even in the exporting line,” the minister highlighted.

Regarding the new health protocols by the onset of the third wave of the coronavirus outbreak, Iran’s health minister noted that any ignorance to implement the hygienic protocols would end up in disaster, and those who do not implement the protocols would be fined and persecuted officially.

Referring to the infection rate increase, Namaki said: “There are no hospital-bed shortages, but it does not mean that we are allowed to ignore the protocols.”

Referring to vaccine production, Iran’s Health Minister said that Iranians and the whole world would hear good news in the coming week.

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IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

TEHRAN – Health minister says unilateral sanctions imposed on the country by the administration of US President Donald Trump are inhumane and cause suffering and pain for people.

Addressing the 73rd World Health Assembly through video-conference on Monday, Saeed Namaki said, “Any measure or policy, which would prevent cooperation among governments in the health sector, is irresponsible and inhumane.”

“There is no doubt that unilateral sanctions constitute an obstacle and are an inhumane measure, which brings about suffering and pain [for people],” the Iranian minister said, adding, “The United States must be held to account for the severe sanctions that have put the lives of Iranian people in jeopardy.”

He hailed the leading role of the World Health Organization (WHO) in supporting the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasized that the body deserves to be supported, not punished and criticized by certain countries.

Trump has claimed that the WHO had failed to disclose or respond to “credible” information in December that suggested the virus could be spread through human-to-human transmission.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian minister stressed the importance of boosting global solidarity and cooperation to contain the coronavirus pandemic, saying it is necessary that all countries have access to medicines and vaccine at an appropriate time and price.

He added that Iran has succeeded in decreasing the coronavirus death toll due to its extensive measures in the public health sector based on the approach that calls for the involvement of “the whole government and the whole society.”

The Iranian minister noted that some 78 million people have been screened for the coronavirus in the country in the first phase with the help of the strong infrastructure of Iran’s primary health care (PHC) system while over 22 million high-risk people have also been screened so far in the second phase.

Iran increased its laboratory capacities in outpatient clinics with the main focus being on screening the patients, social distancing, and timely treatment, and in doing this, the country gradually reopened businesses in order to prevent more harm to the country’s economy, he explained.

Meanwhile yesterday Head of Public Relations and Information Center of the Ministry of Health announced that in the last 24 hours, no patient infected with COVID-19 has died in 10 provinces.

Kianoush Jahanpour yesterday presented the latest statistics regarding the coronavirus.

He said, “According to the reports by laboratories across the country from yesterday to May 19,  2,111 new patients with COVID-19 were diagnosed in which the total number of infected people reaches 124,603.”

Among those number of people infected, 97,173 patients have recovered and have been discharged so far, Jahanpour added.

The Spokesman said, “Unfortunately, in the past 24 hours, 62 COVID-19 patients have lost their lives which is the least number during the last two months.

“Overall 7,119 people have lost their lives in the country to date,” the health official said.

He stated, “2,698 patients are in a critical condition.”

“So far, 716,176 COVID-19 diagnosis tests have been conducted in the country,” according to the spokesman.

In the last 24 hours, no patient infected with COVID-19 has died in 10 provinces and one case has been reported in 6 provinces.

The situation in Khuzestan is still red, but other provinces are relatively stable.

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According To Iran News, Iran’s Minister of Health Saeed Namaki said his organization is on the verge of curbing the novel coronavirus epidemic in most of the country’s provinces.

In a letter in response to a critical op-ed article in an Iranian newspaper, Namaki said the Health Ministry proudly announces that the heavy wave of coronavirus pandemic has been managed across the country, noting, “We are on the verge of containing and controlling (the disease) in the majority of provinces.”

The minister also highlighted Iran’s successful handling of the coronavirus in comparison with the serious harms that the pandemic has done to the world equipped with money, technology and tools, stressing that the Islamic Republic owes its success to the employment of scientific methods to handle the disease, the public cooperation and people’s move to observe the health tips and stay home, the social distancing program, the national mobilization initiative in the fight against coronavirus, and the medical society’s devotion to duty.

Namaki also noted that the Health Ministry is constantly monitoring the effects of the gradual reopening of businesses on the number of new infection cases and fatalities, stressing that the previous restrictions will be immediately enforced again as soon as any negative impact on the management of the epidemic is noticed.

“We believe that no phenomenon has more destructive impacts on the country’s economic, social, political and cultural factors than the prolongation of the disease,” the minister stated.

While more than 52,000 patients have fully recovered from the coronavirus across Iran, the Health Ministry announced on Thursday that the daily death toll from COVID-19 infection in the country has dropped for the third day in a row.

More than 310,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran as of Thursday.

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