Tehran (IP) - Alireza Raisi, Iran's Deputy Minister of Health said that the vaccine production process has passed the stage of testing on animal models, and the human test is to be performed.

Iran PressIran news: In response to a question of Iran Press on Iran's COVID-19 vaccine prosses in comparison to other countries, Alireza Raisi noted that the production takes one year, namely, the Iranian vaccine will be made November 2021.

Raisi stated on Tuesday that there are 148 vaccines in the pre-clinical stage worldwide and six vaccines worldwide are in the last phase.

He said: "Russia has not yet passed the last phase, only in China, a COVID-19 vaccine produced has been approved by WHO with a one-year life span." 

The health official explained that the laboratory stage to produce a vaccine that is tested on animals in order to stimulate the immune system, and if the immune system is stimulated, it enters phase one aiming to see if the vaccine is safe for the body.

Stressing the vaccine is only given to healthy people, Alireza Raisi elaborated on the second stage in which the vaccine is tested in a group of fewer than one hundred people purposing to determine how much of the vaccine is suitable for the body, and in the third and last stage it is tested in less than a thousand people if the test passes successfully, then the vaccine will be mass-produced.

With regard to the observation of health protocols, Raisi said the protocols are implemented perfectly at the national level, but wearing the mask and keeping social distancing are still a must. 

"Iran has passed through difficult weeks and according to the latest studies, the number of hospitalizations in the provinces has decreased day by day, but this does not mean that they are white zones," he reiterated.

"The better health protocols are followed and implemented, the lower the death toll and infection rate would be," Iran's Deputy Minister of Health stressed.

Referring to the Imam Hossein's mourning ceremony observation, he said that the Ministry of Health emphasizes that no ceremonies should be held indoors, for it will lead to an increase in deaths and infections.     207/209

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