– Four months after the initiation of coronavirus vaccination, the Islamic Republic of Iran has vaccinated more than five million medical staff and the elderly over 70 years old, but following some weeks of shortage of enough doses, the health authorities have confirmed that the vaccination process will speed up thanks to import of a new shipment and production of Iranian vaccines.
Coronaviruses has different variants, but the first human coronavirus was discovered in the mid-1960s. Other human coronaviruses have since been identified, including SARS-CoV in 2003. The novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2’s emergence happened in late 2019. The COVID-19 has infected more than 179 million people around the world, killing over 3.8 million out of the people.
In Iran, the first case of infection to the coronavirus was reported in the city of Qom on February 18, 2020. After about one and a half year, there is no complete cure for the disease, while there are some drugs such as Favipiravir and Remdesivir, which can help some patients to get rid of the fatal respiratory disease.
The first vaccine rollout took place in the United States with Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Then, other countries such as Britain, China, Russia etc. embarked on producing their own vaccines.
So far, the Iran-made vaccine of COVIran Barakat, Fakhra, Razi, Pasteur and CinnaGen could get the code of ethics and enter the third phase of clinical trial. The third clinical trial includes three phases. The COVIran Barakat and Pasteur vaccines could reach the third phase thus far.
Iran began the second phase of mass vaccination with injecting elderly over 60 years old. The third phase will target people with underlying diseases, those who carry out risky occupations, and people working in crowded and health centers who are not in the front-line of fighting COVID-19. The forth phase is expected to consist of people under the age of 60, who are scheduled to get their jab in winter.
The Islamic Republic imported one million doses of Sinofarm vaccine on Thursday, which is being distributed throughout the country.
Hopefully, the vaccination of the Iranian people over 60 will be implemented by the end of the current administration.
Source: Islamic Republic News Agency – IRNA
