TEHRAN – The U.S. Department of the Treasury has added Mohammad Mokhber, the president of the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order, and Barkat Ventures, which developed the first homegrown vaccine for the coronavirus, to OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.

COVIRAN BARKAT, the first coronavirus vaccine made by Iranian researchers, was unveiled and injected into three volunteers during a ceremony on December 29, 2020.

The daughter of Mohammad Mokhber was the first volunteer who received the vaccine.

Kianoush Jahanpour, head of the Information Center of the Ministry of Health, said on January 13 that some 72 percent of Iranians have expressed readiness to receive the domestically-made coronavirus vaccine.

Sixteen Iranian companies have been working on producing a COVID-19 vaccine since the beginning of the outbreak, and so far 12 companies have applied to produce the vaccine, of which eight are operating, one of the companies have entered the human trial phase, and two more companies will soon test the vaccines on humans, Jahanpour said.

MG