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Iran will begin using its first coronavirus vaccine this week Russia’s Sputnik V fired to protect health care workers in the midst of the Middle East’s worst revolution, the state’s Islamic Republic News Agency said.
The photos will be given to medical staff who have been susceptible to severe cases of the disease in intensive care units since Feb. 9, Iran’s Health Minister Saeed Namaki said Sunday without further information. according to IRNA.
The Middle East has the worst coronavirus outbreak with more than 1.4 million cases and nearly 60,000 deaths reported to date. Officials have blamed U.S. sanctions for hampering their ability to both contain the disease and keep a ward down.
The Islamic Republic is keen to avoid imports of Western vaccines, and last month Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced a ban on photos taken in Britain and the US. However, Namaki said on February 2 that Iran had made some safe 4.2 million doses of UK Kick AstraZeneca-Oxford University using the global vaccine supply system supported by the World Health Organization.
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On Sunday, although the country reported 7,065 new diseases overnight, the number of daily deaths from coronavirus fell to 57, the lowest number since May 2020.
Iran also unveiled a second locally developed vaccine for the disease, called Razi Cov Pars, a reconstituted protein-based vaccine developed by the Vaccine Research Institute and Serum Razi by the state, said State TV.
The first clinical trial phase of COVIRAN, the country’s other home vaccine, was completed last week by 56 volunteers and is expected to be approved for public use in the summer, officials have said.
– With the help of Golnar Motevalli