Iran Receives Cuban Soberana 2 Vaccine & Indian Bharat Biotech's Covaxin

100,000 doses of Cuban Soberana 2 vaccine were delivered to the Pasteur Institute of Iran for the final stage of clinical trials. With the arrival of 100,000 doses of the Cuban covid vaccine called Soberana (Sovereign) 2 in Iran, the third phase of the clinical trial of this vaccine will be completed, the BioCubaFarma, the Cuban organization of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries announced on early Saturday. As part of cooperation with other countries in the development of the Covid-19 vaccine, 100,000 doses of the Soberana 2 vaccine were sent to the Pasteur Institute of Iran to be used for clinical trials in this country, BioCubaFarma said.

Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute said late on Friday it has signed an accord with Iran’s Pasteur Institute to collaborate on testing of Soberana 2. “This synergy will enable both countries to advance more rapidly in the immunization against the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” it said on its Twitter account. Iran took delivery of the first Cuban vaccines batch at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on Thursday afternoon, Fars New Agency Reported. The shipment contained 100,000 doses of Soberana-2, Cuba’s flagship vaccine to tackle the deadly disease.

Also, The coronavirus vaccine shipment from India arrived at (Tehran's) Imam Khomeini airport containing 150,000 doses, deputy customs chief Mehrdad Jamal Arvanaghi told ISNA news agency
Iran has received a shipment of 150,000 doses of an Indian Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, local media reported Thursday, as the Islamic republic combats the Middle East's deadliest outbreak of the illness. "The coronavirus vaccine shipment from India arrived at (Tehran's) Imam Khomeini airport containing 150,000 doses," deputy customs chief Mehrdad Jamal Arvanaghi told ISNA news agency.  Iran, which is in its second month of a vaccination campaign, is to receive another 375,000 doses from India next week, the health ministry's public relations head Kianoush Jahanpour announced on Twitter.

The country of more than 80 million has lost more than 61,000 lives out of over 1.7 million cases of Covid-19 infection, according to health ministry figures. Tehran, using multiple sources, started its national vaccination campaign on February 9, but the number of people inoculated to date has not been announced. It has bought a total of two million doses of Russia's Sputnik V, according to Jahanpour, to be delivered in stages. He said Tehran plans to launch the local manufacture of the Russian jab before the start of the new Iranian year on March 21. "36 to 40 million doses of Sputnik V will be produced and distributed" in the upcoming year, he was quoted as saying on the government's website.

Iran also received 250,000 doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine on February 28, after Jahanpour announced they were donated by the Chinese government.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki has said Iran will likewise receive 4.2 million doses of the vaccine developed by Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University, purchased via the international vaccine mechanism Covax. At the same time, Iran is working on locally developed vaccine projects. According to Iranian media, three homegrown vaccine projects have reached the clinical trials phase since December. - Mehr, Livemint