100,000 Doses of Cuban Vaccine Against COVID-19 Arrive in Iran

100,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, developed in cooperation between Tehran and Havana, arrived in Iran for the third phase of a clinical trial.

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As reported by local media, the shipment arrived in Iran on a Venezuelan Airbus 340 aircraft for the third phase of the Cuban vaccine's clinical trial against the new coronavirus, called Soberana 02.

Earlier in the day, Iran's Food and Drug Organization spokesman, Kianush Yahanpur, had reported on Twitter that 100,000 doses of the Soberana 02 vaccine were shipped from Venezuela to the Persian country for joint multi-center phase three clinical studies by Iran's Pasteur Institute and Cuba's Finlay Institute.

According to Yahanpur, the first and second phases of the vaccine's human clinical trial were successfully completed, and the third phase will be carried out simultaneously in both countries. He added that mass production would be launched in Iran and Cuba when the final results are confirmed.

This development comes at a time when U.S. sanctions have hampered Iran's access to medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, complicating the process of importing vaccines from abroad.

Iran and Cuba, two allies under the yoke of unilateral U.S. sanctions, reached an agreement in early January to cooperate in complementing clinical evidence of this vaccine, whose production revolves around subunit technology, during which part of the virus protein is produced. The technical methodology will be transferred to Tehran during this joint cooperation.

However, according to Qonche Tanzimi, an expert in Iranian geopolitics, the Iran-Cuba cooperation in manufacturing the anti-COVID-19 vaccine is a strong and clear signal to the U.S. that its sanctions will not paralyze any country where they are implemented.