Iran Says Its Homegrown Vaccine Effective on UK Variant of COVID-19

Hassan Jalili, the head of the research group that developed the Iranian vaccine, told reporters on Saturday the vaccine has been successfully tested on the British variant, which is 70% more contagious than the common variant.

“We tested the UK strain with the blood plasma of the three first volunteers vaccinated twice with CovIran Barekat,” he noted.

“Their plasma was expected to be immune enough to counter the new strain. Our tests indicated that the Iranian vaccine has successfully managed to neutralize the mutated virus completely,” he added.

Minoo Mohraz, a member of the National Coronavirus Headquarters and the official in charge of supervising the clinical tests of CovIran Barekat, said the news made everyone happy.

“The UK variant had turned into a serious concern for all of us, and we were wondering whether the Iranian vaccine could only neutralize the common variant or will be able to eradicate the mutated version as well. Today this good news was announced, and made us all happy,” she added.

Coviran Barekat, the first domestically-developed COVID-19 vaccine in Iran, was named after the pharmaceutical group that developed it.

Iran launched human trials of the vaccine late last month after successfully completing the initial steps, including tests on animals, and obtaining necessary approvals.

In parallel with efforts at developing home-made vaccines, Iranian authorities have said the
county has plans to purchase foreign brands that pass safety and efficiency tests.