TEHRAN – The second Iranian coronavirus vaccine, Razi Cov Pars, which started the clinical trial on February 27, will be mass-produced in early August, ISNA report on Tuesday.

Developed by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, the vaccine is protein-based, which employs recombinant versions of the spike protein and tutors the immune system against the virus by producing antibodies.

Through the first phase of the human trial, 120 people have so far received the first dose of vaccine, and 42 others the second dose, Mohammad-Hossein Fallah, deputy head of Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute said.

In terms of vaccine safety, those who received the vaccine have not had any problems so far, and the situation is improving, he added.

The vaccine is developed in 3 doses, the first two doses are injectable and the third dose is intranasal. The second dose of the vaccine will be injected into the volunteers 21 days later and the third dose will be inhaled 51 days later, he further explained.

Iran started mass vaccination against COVID-19 with Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine on February 9, with the priority given to medical staff, the elderly, and people with underlying diseases; which is also going to be co-produced by the two countries.

The first shipment of the COVAX vaccine was delivered to Tehran on Sunday.

“Currently, about 250,000 people in the country have been vaccinated and about 56,000 others have received the second dose of the vaccine,” Alireza Raeisi, spokesman for the National Headquarters for Coronavirus control said.

Homegrown vaccines

COVIRAN BAREKAT, the first coronavirus vaccine made by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam which was unveiled on December 29, 2020, started to be mass-produced on March 29.

Fakhra vaccine, the third homegrown vaccine, was unveiled and started the clinical trial on March 16.

On January 27, Health Minister Saeed Namaki said 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 17,430 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 1,963,394. She added that 1,667,079 patients have so far recovered, but 4,138 remain in critical conditions of the disease.

During the past 24 hours, 174 patients have lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 63,506, she added.

So far, 13,256,820 COVID-19 diagnostic tests have been performed in the country.

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