Iran health official sceptical of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine

People can be seen wearing face masks as a preventive measure against the coronavirus (Covid-19) in Moscow, Russia on 28 March 2020 [Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency]

A spokesperson of the Iranian Ministry of Health Kianoush Jahanpur said yesterday that Russia’s coronavirus vaccine dubbed ‘Sputnik-V’ has not completed the third phase of clinical trials and therefore using it could be dangerous.

“Before all clinical trials are completed, using vaccines is like opening a Pandora’s box and therefore they are potentially dangerous” Jahanpour wrote on Twitter, adding that countries must remember that the goal of vaccines is to ensure the safety and health of the population.

Iran has also announced that it was working to develop a vaccine for the virus which claimed the lives of 18,800 people in the country.

On Tuesday, Russian President, Vladimir Putin announced that his country was the first to register a vaccine against the virus. However, the Russian president’s announcement was met with global scepticism as Moscow failed to share the results of the large-scale clinical trials.

READ: PA might get Covid-19 vaccine from Russia

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