A joint production of the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus Sputnik V in Iran may begin in April, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali told RIA Novosti.
"The joint production will begin in April, and two Iranian companies are now working on this issue. I think that within the next week vaccine cells from the Russian side will be sent to Iran and, God willing, in April we will witness the start of joint production of the vaccine in Iran," he said.
According to the Ambassador, at the initial stage, the total volume of production will be up to 9 million doses of vaccine per month.
"One of our companies in the first stage is capable of producing up to 4 million doses per month, the other company also up to 4 million doses. It will be about 8-9 million doses per month," Jalali said, without specifying which companies he was talking about.
He added that there is a potential for increasing the production volume and the companies are working to subsequently increase the output of the vaccine.
Earlier, Iranian government official representative Ali Rabiei said that after Iran and Russia start joint production of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, the output of the drug could reach at least 40 million doses per year.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Julia Bubnova / TASS
Based on materials from RIA Novosti