TEHRAN – Iran has begun the first phase of human trials on its homegrown coronavirus vaccine.
According to officials, the human trials on the vaccine will be conducted in two phases.
Over 20,000 volunteers have signed up for the trials.
Iran has reported more than 1.2 million coronavirus cases, including nearly 55,000 deaths.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has banned the import of COVID-19 vaccines from the US and the UK.
“The import of American and British vaccines is prohibited,” Khamenei said in a televised speech on Friday.
He also said he does not trust the two countries, adding: “Sometimes they want to try the vaccine on other nations.”
“If the Americans could produce a vaccine, they would not be in the state they are currently in. They would not be recording 4,000 deaths every day. Same with the UK,” he added.
Khamenei said that he does not trust France either, adding that if another country that Iran trusts produces a vaccine, the government would be allowed to import the vaccines from it.
On Friday, the Central Bank of Iran’s governor announced that the country had reached an agreement to pay for 16.8 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, a global initiative under the World Health Organization (WHO) that aims to ensure equitable access to vaccines for all countries.
Since its outbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic has killed over 1,875,000 people across the world.
New virus recently found in the UK has raised concerns worldwide about the future of the deadly virus.
