Iran to Launch Human Trials for 2nd Covid Vaccine

Iran is set to launch human testing for a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, making it the second experimental vaccine to receive regulatory approval for human trials.
Ehsan Shamsi Goushki, the head of Health Ministry's National Research Ethics Committee, announced they have given Razi the greenlight to perform human trials, IRNA reported.
"Iran's Food and Drug Administration will soon issue permission for human testing," Goushki said, noting that the technology behind its making is different from the first vaccine currently administered to volunteers.
"This is a protein-based vaccine that differs from vaccines produced with dead or weakened viruses," he said.
Iran's first experimental vaccine, dubbed Cov Iran Barkat, is being tested on 56 volunteers in the first phase of human trials.
At least six knowledge-based companies in Iran are racing to manufacture a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
If trials are concluded successfully, Iran will be able to mass produce its first local vaccine by the end of spring (late June).
Some 5,800 tested positive for the coronavirus over 24 hours, taking the national case tally to 1.336 million, the spokeswoman of Health Ministry, Sima Sadat Lari, said.
"In the past 24 hours, 83 Covid-19 patients lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 56,886," she said.
According to the health official, most cities across Iran have been color-coded as blue, or low-risk, and 10 are on coronavirus red alert.
Over 1.12 million have recovered from the respiratory illness and 4,300 are in critical condition.
Iran has administered more than 8.58 million PCR tests since the start of the deadly outbreak.
The number of worldwide Covid-19 cases rose to 95.5 million and the death toll surged past two million on Monday.