Head of Iran’s Food and Drug Administration Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz says the country has purchased 2 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik-V COVID-19 vaccine, whose first shipment arrived in Iran on Thursday.
“The arrival of the Sputnik-V vaccine shipment showed the beginning of the implementation of a deal between Tehran and Moscow on the purchase of the vaccine,” Shanehsaz said in a televised interview.
The official said the next shipments will be delivered to Iran “very soon.”
He explained that other reliable and authorized vaccines have been identified by Iranian experts and that the purchase of vaccines from companies in India and China is on the agenda.
Iran received the first shipment of the Sputnik-V vaccine earlier on Thursday, after the vaccine’s efficacy was reported to be around 92%. The medical journal the Lancet published an article proving its effectiveness based on trial vaccination of nearly 22,000 volunteers. Seventy-five percent of the participants received the vaccine, while the rest were given placebos.
The vaccine imports are made as inhumane US sanctions have affected Iran’s ability to make the payment for importing vaccines as well as life-saving medical equipment.
Iran’s Pasteur Institute is planning to produce a vaccine named Soberana 2 in collaboration with Cuba’s Finlay Institute.
Iran is also testing its own coronavirus vaccine, called Coviran Barekat, which will be rolled out in early April.