Iran plans to jettison production of its Fakhravac Covid-19 vaccine due to an alleged lack of demand, according to a statement from its Defense Ministry. This development also endangers the fate of Iran's five other homegrown vaccines, as imports grow and Iranians increasingly show a proclivity for foreign inoculations instead.
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"We expected to have between 1,000 and 1,500 volunteers a day, but the number has dropped to around 100," said Ahmad Karimi, head of the Fakhravac project. "It has become a challenge because in the third phase of the clinical trial the sample groups need to be large."
Despite having received emergency use authorization in Iran, the Fakhravac vaccine was still awaiting full approval, a process that had been protracted due to the ministry not finding a sufficient number of participants for the necessary trials.
Furthermore, the Health Ministry's decision to backpedal from commitments to buying large amounts of the vaccine from domestic manufacturers had grossly subverted the validity of the vaccine and the faith of the Iranian people in taking it.
"We are in the process of planning to end production, because who will we sell it to?" said Karimi upon speaking to Iranian news outlets last week. He added that approximately a million doses had been stockpiled.
Iran's other forms of inoculation against the coronavirus have also faced difficulties as of late, particularly the country's other main vaccine CovIran Barakat. This other vaccine, also authorized solely for emergency use, had failed to deliver the 50 million doses it had promised by the end of September and has faced similar backlash amongst the country's elite.
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