Iran begins 3rd stage in clinical trial of domestically-produced COVIran vaccine

COVIran Barekat named after the pharmaceutical group that developed it was administered to three volunteers at a ceremony in Tehran’s Eram Hotel on Sunday.

Among the volunteers was Dr. Minoo Mohraz, a member of Iran’s national coronavirus taskforce and an infectious diseases specialist.

The third stage of the vaccine’s human trial involves 20,000 people in the cities of Tehran, Bushehr, Shiraz, Karaj, Mashhad and Isfahan.

In a post on his Twitter account, head of the EOIK public relations, Hojjat Niki Maleki, said more than 32,000 people have expressed willingness to participate in the vaccine’s clinical trial.

The COVIran vaccine went into human trial on December 29, 2020, after successfully completing the initial steps, including tests on animals, and obtaining necessary approvals.

The second homegrown vaccine is a product of the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute. Razi COV-Pars — an mRNA recombinant vaccine — is administered via injection and inhalation.

The third Iranian vaccine, named Fakhra, is developed by the Iranian Defense Ministry’s research center formerly headed by nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated in a suspected Israeli-linked terror attack late last year.

In addition to producing domestic vaccines, Iran has imported reliable foreign vaccines from Russia, China, India and Cuba amid the illegal US sanctions that have seriously hampered the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this month, Iran received over 700,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as part of its purchase of millions of doses through the COVAX initiative.

So far, 2,377,039 people have been infected with COVID-19 in Iran and 69,120 people have died.