The spokesman for the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) told Tasnim that the foreign vaccine supply purchased by the IRCS arrived at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport this morning.
Mohammad Hossein Qosian Moqaddam said it contains two million doses of vaccine, bringing the total number of foreign-made vaccines imported by the IRCS to 4.5 million doses.
The vaccines were delivered to the Health Ministry after arrival at the airport, he added.
Iran’s Health Minister Saeed Namaki said on Tuesday that the country will become one of the world’s biggest producers of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of summer.
He also noted that the distribution of the first Iranian vaccine for the coronavirus, the emergency use of which was authorized on Sunday, began across the country on Tuesday.
On Monday, Namaki said the emergency-use authorization has been granted for COVIran Barekat, the homegrown vaccine for the coronavirus named after the pharmaceutical group that has developed it.
The minister also noted that the emergency use of another vaccine developed jointly by Cuba and the Pasteur Institute of Iran will be authorized next week.
The COVIran vaccine has gone into three stages of clinical trials, the last of which involved 20,000 people in the cities of Tehran, Bushehr, Shiraz, Karaj, Mashhad and Isfahan.
Iran has already granted emergency use authorization to Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, Covaxin made by India’s Bharat Biotech, Oxford/AstraZeneca developed by Russia’s R-Pharm Group, and the AstraZeneca-SKBio made in South Korea.