TEHRAN – Noora coronavirus vaccine, developed and produced by Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), entered the third phase of the human trial on Sunday.

The third phase was started by injecting into IRGC Commander-in-Chief Major General Hossein Salami, IRNA reported.

Hassan Abolqasemi, commander of Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, said that 5 million doses of the vaccine have been produced, which will be available to the people after the approval of the Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.

The clinical trial process starts with the injection of 10,000 doses, he added.

Homegrown vaccines

Health Minister Bahram Einollahi has said five coronavirus vaccines have been so far produced domestically.

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.

Developed by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Razi Cov Pars is the second Iranian-made vaccine that started the clinical trial on February 27.

Fakhra vaccine, the third domestically-developed COVID-19 vaccine, was unveiled and started the clinical trial on March 16.

Lately, the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use license for two other domestic vaccines of Razi Cov Pars and Fakhra.

Moreover, the Iranian-Australian Spikogen vaccine and Pastu Covac, developed jointly by the Pasteur Institute of Iran and Cuba's Finlay Vaccine Institute, are other vaccines, which have received the emergency use license.

Iran is one of the few countries that has all vaccine production platforms, Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, former head of the Food and Drug Administration, said in June 2021.

Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Iran Jaffar Hussain said in September 2021 that the Organization was collecting the necessary information for the registration and certification of Iranian-made coronavirus vaccines.

FB/MG