TEHRAN – The Iranian-Australian coronavirus vaccine “Spikogen” will join the national vaccination plan after successfully passing the third stage of the human test by the end of October, Payam Tabarsi, a researcher of the project, has announced.

This is subject to approval and obtaining a license from the Food and Drug Administration, which seems to be approved given the circumstances, he stated.

He estimated the monthly capacity of the Sinogen pharmaceutical company to produce the vaccine at three million doses.

Pointing to the safety level of Spikogen as 77 percent, he noted that the third phase of the clinical trial will probably end in late September, IRNA reported on Saturday.

About 2 weeks after the vaccine is injected into all third-phase volunteers, its effectiveness can be announced more accurately, he further said.

The first phase of the study was performed on volunteer Australians and received the necessary approval, the second phase was administrated to 400 Iranians, which has had no serious side effects, Tabarsi said.

Vaccines against viruses can be divided into three main categories: live attenuated, inactivated/killed, and subunit vaccines. Recombinant protein subunit vaccines are composed of at least 1 type of viral antigen. These vaccines are significantly more secure than live attenuated and inactivated vaccines.

Mass vaccination against COVID-19 started on Iranian citizens with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine on February 9.

While Iran continues efforts to mass-produce local candidates, over 18 million doses of foreign vaccines have already been imported and others are expected soon.

Iran is also producing vaccines jointly with two countries of Cuba and Russia.

Homegrown vaccines

Made by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, COVIRAN BAREKAT was unveiled on December 29, 2020, and received the license for public use on June 14.

It proved effective against Indian strain, according to Hojjat Niki-Maleki, head of the information center of Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam.

Eleven countries from Asia and South America, and a European country have asked for importing COVIRAN vaccine, Hassan Jalili, the vaccine’s production manager, said in June.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, 14 vaccines are being domestically developed in the country which are in different study phases.

Pastu Covac, developed jointly by the Pasteur Institute of Iran and Cuba's Finlay Vaccine Institute, is another homegrown vaccine, which has received the emergency use license, after COVIRAN.

FB/MG