Iran to start emergency use of homegrown Fakhra COVID-19 vaccine: Defense minister

Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani says the country’s domestically-developed and produced Fakhra coronavirus vaccine has begun the third stage of clinical trial and has been authorized by the Health Ministry for emergency use.

Speaking during a visit to the production line of the vaccine on Thursday, Ashtiani added that Fakhra has successfully undergone the first and second phases of clinical trial and would feature in the country’s vaccination campaign within the next few days.

He added that the Defense Ministry is currently capable of producing about one million doses of the Fakhra vaccine on a monthly basis, emphasizing that with the finalization of the necessary infrastructure in the next three months, the production would speed up. 

Iran in June launched the second phase in the human trial of Fakhra developed by the Defense Ministry’s research center formerly headed by nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated last year.

Fakhra is an inactivated virus-based vaccine, and apparently requires two doses given by intramuscular injection 14 days apart.