In the editorial by Farid Najafi, Deputy Health Minister for Research and Technology, we read: "Achieving this important phase of vaccine production is national pride, keeping in mind that Iran, too, along with the international efforts, has reached phase one of the human testing of Covid 19 vaccine, which is a significant point that our dear citizens should know.
Our country has a long record of vaccine production, and for instance, the Pasture Institute of Iran and Razi Research Institute each have long records for trustworthy vaccine production for many decades, contributing to better health conditions for our people.
Production of such vaccines as the polio vaccine, measles vaccine, and tuberculosis vaccine all inside our country proves our good record for vaccine production, although the new discussion on Covid 19 vaccine, that is quite a new category and is of great significance and a kind of move along with the international caravan of sciences and health technology.
At any rate, ever since the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic in most counties around the globe numerous countries began their own vaccine research works and some have also begun the production phase. The Iranian biological researchers, too have now proved their outstanding capabilities in the production of this new vaccine, as they had already proved it thoroughly in the production of other vaccines and high-tech medicines in the past.
A large group of our citizens volunteered to take part in the human testing process following that success and the related research has thus reached its final phase. Thanks to our long and bright record in vaccine production based on high technology this job’s success is guaranteed as we have achieved mastership in the killed-virus type of vaccine production, and that is what I call national pride.
The very important point is that this vaccine is in its human testing phase, and like any other vaccine in the world it needs to complete the various stages of this important phase. But it must definitely answer the level of our expectations from our renowned researchers at his phase. After stage one of the human testing problem solving with the vaccine’s deficiencies, including making it immune begins.
Of course, the immunity of the vaccine has already been worked on before the human testing phase, but we need to reach the mental readiness for the vaccine along with the world and our scientists must eliminate the faults.
Yet, our researchers and scientist are simultaneously working on other vaccines based on appropriate proposed technologies, which are still not surveyed in the Medical Ethics Committee of the Health Ministry, but the survey phase of them in the Food and Medicine Organization is in process and phase one of those vaccines’ human testing, too, will soon be reached.
As far as I know, in the case of some Iranian vaccines, phases one and two of the human testing are combined to save time under the emergency conditions that we are experiencing, which makes the production phase achievement a lot faster.
We should naturally expect and know that there will be problems and maybe even difficulties in the public vaccination phase, just as the Pfizer Coronavirus vaccine and those of the other internationally famous large companies all faced such problems. But the vaccine production is a serious issue and this capability at the optimum level exists in Iran and the problems will be surveyed, spotted and resolved.
We need to pursue two different approaches: we need Iranian vaccines and we also need to import enough good vaccines, which are the two important things that most countries in the world do.
In other words, many countries are producing the vaccine, but simultaneously are trying to use the capabilities of the foreign countries as well. That is because the volume of the needed vaccine is very high and it is necessary to pursue both strategies to sole the pandemic problem."