Tehran, June 9, IRNA - Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said in the launching ceremony of the second phase of clinical test for Fakhra COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday that Iran has joined the few countries that can produce– such coronavirus vaccines.
Harirchi said that only a handful of countries in the world are capable of producing COVID-19 vaccines and Iran has joined this league by producing several vaccines.
Fakhra COVID-19 vaccine which is developed by Iran’s Defense Ministry and named after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the Iranian nuclear scientist and deputy Defense Minister who was assassinated by agents of the Israeli regime last year.
Describing the coronavirus pandemic as the most severe crisis faced by humanity in the past century or even in the past few centuries, Harirchi underscored that the only way out of this crisis was to reach herd immunity through vaccination.
Iran’s Deputy Defense Minister General Qasem Taqizadeh who also gave speech in the ceremony said that Fakhra vaccine is a source of pride for Iranians and has several advantages over vaccines produced by other countries.
He said that development of the vaccine was commenced by Fakhrizadeh while he was in office and continued by his team after his martyrdom.
General Taqizadeh hoped that Iran's Defense Ministry would meet domestic demands in the first phase of production of the vaccine and then it would expand capacity to export vaccines to other countries.
