On Friday, Iran announced a ban on importing the American “Pfizer-Biontech” and the British “AstraZeneca-Oxford” vaccines against the Coronavirus.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said, during a televised speech, that importing American and British vaccines is “forbidden”, according to the American “Associated Press “.
He added: “Really, I do not trust them (the United States and Britain), as sometimes they want to test their vaccines in other countries,” referring to the high deaths of Corona in the two countries.
Khamenei added, “I am also not optimistic about France,” which the US agency considered “an indication of Iran’s lack of confidence in the West.”
While Khamenei agreed to import vaccines from other “safe” places, he did not name them, while stressing “his support for his country’s efforts to produce an anti-virus vaccine.”
Iran began testing its vaccines in humans last December, and it is expected to put them on the domestic market next spring.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard refused to use any foreign vaccine last December, according to the same source.
Iran has access to ways to secure Corona vaccines, despite the sanctions imposed on it, according to the US agency.
It also participates in the “Kovacs” facility for making available coronavirus vaccines globally, of the World Health Organization.
The American company “Pfizer” is developing its vaccine in cooperation with its German counterpart “Biontech”, while the “AstraZeneca” company is developing its vaccine in cooperation with the University of “Oxford” in Britain.
As of Friday afternoon, the number of Corona patients in the world exceeded 88 million and 620 thousand, of whom more than one million and 909 thousand died, and more than 63 million and 705 thousand recovered, according to the World Meter website.
