Health minister: Iran to unveil fourth domestic COVID-19 vaccine this week

Iran’s health minister says the country will unveil a new COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Defense Ministry on Tuesday, when it will go on its human trials to become the fourth domestic vaccine developed in Iran.

“Sepand vaccine, developed by Iran’s Defense Ministry, will be unveiled on Tuesday and its human trial will immediately start,” Saeid Namaki said on Sunday while addressing a ceremony held to unveil a new mobile medical complex specialized in biological defense built by the Ground Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

Namaki added that Iran will enjoy a well-deserved international recognition in producing vaccines against the coronavirus in the coming months.

“Sepand vaccine is the same vaccine whose production was initiated by Martyr [Mohsen] Fakhrizadeh and his team a long time ago in the Defense Ministry, and now, it has reached its human trials stage,” he said.

Fakhrizadeh, the head of the Iranian Defense Ministry’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, was targeted in a multi-pronged terrorist attack near Tehran on November 27, 2020.

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In addition to Sepand, Iran has developed three other vaccines which are passing their human trials, including Coviran Barekat vaccine developed by experts at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of Imam Khomeini, Razi COV-Pars vaccine developed by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, and finally, Soberana 2 vaccine which is the result of the cooperation of Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute and Iran’s Pasteur Institute.

According to Alireza Raeisi, the spokesman for the National Headquarters for Managing and Fighting the Coronavirus, one million and 260 thousand vaccines have been imported to Iran so far, with the aim of vaccinating more than one million people, including the medical staff and vulnerable individuals, before the beginning of the Iranian new year on March 21.

“So far, we have received more than 410,000 does of Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccine,” Raeisi said on Saturday. “Also, 250,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine and 125,000 doses of India’s Bharat vaccine have been imported into the country, with another 375,000 doses [of Bharat vaccine] expected to receive on Monday, when we will have a total of 500,000 doses of the Indian vaccine.”

Raeisi added that 100,000 doses of the Cuban vaccine have been imported into the country, with the total doses of the imported vaccines reaching one million and 260,000.

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Iran's IRGC unveils mobile hospital

Meanwhile, during the Sunday ceremony, the IRGC Ground Force’s new mobile medical complex specialized in biological defense was unveiled, which has the capacity of 128 beds and is a mixture of container and tent complexes.

According to Fars news, the IRGC Ground Force has put up its mobile medical complex for areas that are difficult to reach as well as its bus medical complex in order to demonstrate the evolution of mobile medical complexes.

The most up-to-date, specialized and technical medical equipment was used in the medical complex, which also includes different hospital sections specializing in biological defense as well as mobile MRI and CT scanners, a telecommunication system and a mobile nutrition system, Fars said.

It added that the medical complex is unique in its kind in West Asia and nothing similar to it has ever been created and launched in the country. Its structure has been created by the capable hands of the IRGC Ground Force’s battlefield medicine experts in the research and development unit of the IRGC Ground Force’s West Battlefield Medicine Center.

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