TEHRAN – Iran will purchase about 42 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine from foreign companies to vaccinate 21 million people, Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Referring to three ways for supplying the coronavirus vaccine, Iranian Health, Treatment and Medical Education Minister Saeed Namaki said yesterday that one of them is through the Covax Facility and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
He said that via the facility, Tehran plans to import 16.8 million doses, covering about 8.4 million people and about 10% of the total population.
He added that the next step is to supply about 5.5 million doses of vaccines in the form of a joint contract with a foreign company, as well as the purchase of 20 million vaccines from another foreign company and a total of 42 million doses of vaccines, covering about 21 million people.
Namaki also said that domestic researchers are also producing the Islamic Republic’s own Covid-19 vaccine in collaboration with 12 Iranian companies, adding that the WHO has accepted the procedures of at least four.
He continued that one of these domestic companies will start clinical trials next week, while testing on animals for this vaccine has been successfully finished, with results from the latter expected in the coming months. – Bernama, November 26, 2020
