Iran Unveils Second Homegrown Virus Vaccine Project

Iran unveiled its second homegrown coronavirus vaccine project Monday, the day before the launch of a vaccination campaign to combat the Middle East's deadliest COVID-19 outbreak.

“We will start human tests in the coming days, or in a week at the latest," Massoud Soleimani, a member of Iran's national vaccine committee, told journalists in Karaj near Tehran.

The vaccine, dubbed Razi Cov Pars, was developed at the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, which is linked to the agriculture ministry, Soleimani said.

At the start of Phase 1 of the clinical trials, "13 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55" will receive a jab, he added.

The unveiling comes the day before the launch Tuesday of a campaign to vaccinate Iran's 80-million-plus population, starting with the Sputnik V jab, according to Health Minister Saeed Namaki.

The first doses of the Russian vaccine arrived on Thursday in Tehran, with two other shipments expected by February 18 and 28, according to Iranian authorities.

The Islamic republic has bought two million doses of Sputnik V, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told AFP on Saturday.

Namaki said last week that Iran would also receive 4.2 million doses of the vaccine developed by Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University, purchased via the international vaccine mechanism COVAX.

The coronavirus has killed more than 58,500 people and infected 1.4 million in Iran, according to the health ministry.

Iran started clinical trials of its first locally developed vaccine in late December.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Expects First Batch of Russian Vaccine This Week

Iran's ambassador to Russia said Saturday that Tehran expects to receive the first batch of Moscow's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine by February 4, state news agency IRNA reported.

The news comes just days after Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced the vaccine had been approved by the Islamic Republic.

"A contract for the purchase and joint production was signed yesterday between Iran and Russia," envoy Kazem Jalali said, quoted by IRNA.

Two more batches are to be delivered by February 18 and 28, he added, without specifying quantities.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier this month banned the use of vaccines made by the United States and Britain, calling them "completely untrustworthy".

Iran is fighting the Middle East's deadliest outbreak of COVID-19 with more than 57,800 dead out of over 1.4 million cases.

The country says arch enemy US has blocked its access to vaccines through Washington's tough sanctions regime.

While food and medicine are technically exempt, international banks tend to refuse transactions involving Iran.

Russia registered the jab—named after the Soviet-era satellite—in August last year, before the start of large-scale clinical trials, leaving some experts wary.

Sputnik V's developers have since said the vaccine is more than 90 percent effective and several countries outside of Russia have begun administering it, including Argentina.

Hungary has also said it has reached a deal to buy the vaccine, although it has not been approved by the European Union.

Iran started clinical trials of its own vaccine in late December.

Photo: IRNA