TEHRAN, Nov. 25 (MNA) – Iran is planning to purchase around 18 million doses of vaccine for coronavirus.
Health Minister Saeed Namaki said this week the country will seek to buy 18 million doses of the vaccine, adding that each individual will need two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to build immunity against the contagion, meaning the Health Ministry’s purchase deal could protect 11% of the country’s population.
The minister noted that the purchase will be conducted through different channels.
“We will talk to two or three countries for a joint production agreement to use their scientific data,” he said, adding that he is also optimistic about the four Iranian firms with vaccines in the pipeline.
He expressed hope that two of the mentioned firms will receive approval soon to conduct human trials and the start of trials in a few days.
If the local companies receive authorization, they can launch phase one of clinical trials and inject humans with the vaccine.
A total of 894,385 people have so far contracted the coronavirus in Iran, of whom over 46,000 have died and more than 625,000 have recovered.
