Iran to import AstraZeneca vaccine from South Korea

Iran is going to import the AstraZeneca vaccine for the coronavirus from South Korea, Health Minister Sa'eed Namaki said.

According to Tasnim news agency, speaking at a meeting with senior religious clerics in the holy Qom on Friday night, Namaki said Iran will be importing the AstraZeneca vaccine made in South Korea.

He said the vaccine has been developed under a joint research project and is being produced in 12 sites across the world.

The minister also noted that Iran has begun to vaccinate the elderly at nursing homes.

Officials say Iran will receive around 16 million doses of vaccines through the World Health Organization's COVAX program, import more than 25 million doses from abroad, and produce 25 million other doses inside the country.

Earlier this month, the chairman of the Headquarters for Executing the Order of Imam Khomeini (God's mercy upon him), the institution that has developed the first Iranian vaccine for COVID-19, said the homegrown vaccine is one hundred percent effective against the mutated variant of coronavirus found in the UK.

The Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute unveiled the second Iranian vaccine for the coronavirus, administered via injection or inhalation, on February 7.

Cov-Pars is a vaccine based on recombinant protein that can be injected or inhaled.

In comments at the unveiling ceremony, Namaki said Iran is going to become a main hub of vaccine production in the world in the coming months.

ME