Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday announced that Tehran had registered Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
"I would like to tell you that the Sputnik V vaccine was registered in Iran yesterday. It was approved by our sanitary authorities and we hope we will soon be able to buy it and start joint production [by] the relevant institutes in Russia and Iran”, Zarif said at a press conference after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Iran is currently working on developing its own COVID-19 vaccines. Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said last week that Iran expected the first vaccine to be ready by the spring, and another two or three by summer.
Tehran is also considering the option of purchasing vaccines manufactured by other countries, except for the UK and US-made vaccines, as they were banned by the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Sputnik V was registered by the Russian government on 11 August. The vaccine is based on a human adenoviral vector platform, which is a well-researched technology in comparison with more modern mRNA medications. The latest interim clinical results in mid-December established the vaccine's efficacy at 91.4 percent.