TEHRAN – COVIRAN BAREKAT, the first coronavirus vaccine made by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, started to be mass-produced on Monday, ISNA reported.

The first phase started with a production capacity of 3 million doses per month, Mohammad Mokhber, the head of the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam said.

“The second phase of production will start in June with a capacity of 12 to 15 million doses per month, and by the end of June, we will provide a monthly production capacity of 15 to 20 million doses per month, which is a significant step,” he explained.

“We successfully passed the first phase of the human trial with the least side effects, expressing hope to pass the second phase successfully and start the third phase immediately.”

COVIRAN BAREKAT was unveiled and injected into three volunteers during a ceremony on December 29, 2020.

The second Iranian coronavirus vaccine, Razi Cov Pars, started the clinical trial by injecting it into two volunteers during a ceremony on February 27.

Iran started mass vaccination with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, with the priority given to medical staff, the elderly, and people with underlying diseases. The vaccine is going to be co-produced by the two countries.

Meanwhile, the first batch of COVAX vaccines will be delivered between March 18 and March 28, ISNA quoted Alireza Raeisi, the National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control spokesman, said.

On January 27, Health Minister Saeed Namaki said that there are four different ways to supply the coronavirus vaccine, including direct purchase from a foreign country, procurement from the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility, a joint production with a Cuban company as well as domestic production of the vaccine.

He emphasized that Iran will soon be one of the world’s important manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccine.

New cases and mortalities

In a press briefing on Monday, Health Ministry’s spokesperson Sima-Sadat Lari confirmed 7,980 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 1,754,933. She added that 1,499,301 patients have so far recovered, but 3,784 remain in critical conditions of the disease.

During the past 24 hours, 100 patients have lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 60,330, she added.

So far, 11,781,317 COVID-19 diagnostic tests have been performed in the country.

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