TEHRAN – Iran will release jointly-produced Russian “Sputnik V” vaccine by the end of spring (June 21), Kianoush Jahanpour, head of the Information Center of the Ministry of Health, has announced.

A shipment of cell bank for the production of the "Sputnik V" vaccine delivered to Iran today, and the production process will start soon in Actoverco pharmaceutical company, Jahanpour wrote on his Twitter account on Thursday.

The first batch of Iranian-Russian vaccine will be available by the end of spring.

Three Iranian companies are volunteering to co-produce the Sputnik V vaccine in Iran and were introduced to the Gamaleya Institute through the Iranian Embassy in Russia. One of these companies is ahead of the others, of course, all three companies have the ability to produce this vaccine, he explained.

As soon as the production line is ready, the Russian side provides cell bank to the companies; so that the first vaccine products in Iran will enter the market after 45-60 days, he noted.

Iran started mass vaccination against COVID-19 with Sputnik V vaccine on February 9.

So far, 667,202 doses of coronavirus vaccine, including the first and second doses, have been injected in the country.

Iran is currently producing vaccines jointly with three countries of Cuba, Russia, and Australia, he noted, expressing hope that these vaccines can also be released by September.

Sixth shipment of Sputnik V arrived

Alireza Raeisi, spokesman for the National Headquarters for Coronavirus control announced on Thursday that the sixth batch of “Sputnik V” vaccine, including over 100,000 doses, has been sent to the country, IRNA reported.

Of the total vaccines imported so far, we have received about 420,000 doses of Sputnik V, some 650,000 doses from China, and 125,000 from India. We also received 700,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccine from South Korea, so that a total of 1.895 million doses of vaccine have been provided to the Ministry of Health, he explained.

New cases and mortalities

In a press briefing on Friday Health Ministry’s spokesperson, Sima-Sadat Lari, confirmed 24,092 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 2,335,905. She added that 1,823,958 patients have so far recovered, but 5,038 remain in critical conditions of the disease.

During the past 24 hours, 453 patients have lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 68,366, she added.

So far, 14,854,140 COVID-19 diagnostic tests have been performed in the country.

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