The production of Sputnik V, a vaccine for the coronavirus developed by Russia, began at an Iranian company on Saturday, 26 June. In a ceremony attended by Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki, the production of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine under license started in Iran.

Iran has become the first country in the Middle East to produce Sputnik V. The vaccine produced in Iran will be used in the national vaccination program.

To date, Sputnik V has been registered in 67 countries globally with a total population of over 3.5 billion people. The data obtained by regulators of a number of countries during the vaccination of the population, including Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, Mexico and others, demonstrates that Sputnik V is one of the safest and most effective vaccines against coronavirus.

Sputnik V is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.

Kirill Dmitriev

CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund

RDIF and Actoverco are actively cooperating in the technology transfer process. Local production of the Sputnik V vaccine in Iran will accelerate the vaccination pace without logistics costs. Sputnik V is already playing an important role in protecting the country's population against the coronavirus, and domestic production will support Iran's efforts to combat the pandemic.

Officials say the permission for the rollout of another homegrown vaccine developed jointly by Cuba and the Pasteur Institute of Iran will be granted in the near future.