Emergency Use of Second Iranian Vaccine for COVID Authorized
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Health Ministry has authorized the emergency use of another homegrown coronavirus vaccine developed by the Pasteur Institute, Health Minister Saeed Namaki said.
Namaki said on Tuesday that the vaccine developed by the Pasteur Institute of Iran had obtained the emergency use approval earlier in the day after successfully completing various trial stages.
“The third phase of the clinical trial for the Pasteur vaccine, which is the second Iranian vaccine (against) coronavirus, has been carried out and today we were able to obtain the permission for its emergency use form the legal committee,” he said.
Iran had approved its flagship Coviran Barekat vaccine for emergency use earlier this month. The Pasteur vaccine has been developed as part of a joint experiment with Cuban scientists.
The approvals come as the government seeks to accelerate its inoculation program against the coronavirus some six months after it began using supplies from other countries, Press TV reported.
The campaign has mostly relied on Russian and Chinese jabs and others provided by a World Health Organization project.
Iran has three other coronavirus vaccine candidates, including two being developed by scientists in the country’s armed forces and one by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute.