Iran Joins WHO's COVAX Initiative on Equitable Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccine
Iran has joined the World Health Organization's COVAX initiative for the equitable global distribution of prospective COVID-19 vaccines, Director-General of Drugs and Controlled Substances of Iran's Ministry of Health Heidar Mohammadi said Monday
TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2020) Iran has joined the World Health Organization's COVAX initiative for the equitable global distribution of prospective COVID-19 vaccines, Director-General of Drugs and Controlled Substances of Iran's Ministry of Health Heidar Mohammadi said Monday.
Tehran has signed the necessary paperwork to be part of the global vaccine drive, Mohammadi said, as cited by the state news agency IRNA.
Iran joins over 170 nations and entities as part of the network aimed at fairly delivering some two billion vaccines worldwide by the end of 2021.
IRNA also cited Iran's Minister of Health Saeed Namaki as saying that the country was also working on developing its own vaccine against the virus. Iran's vaccine candidate is now in the animal testing phase and is set to move to phase one human trial in the near future, the agency reported.
China announced it was joining the initiative earlier this month, which puts it in the running with most other major world economies. The United States and Russia have so far refrained from joining the program.