Cuba to Test Covid-19 Vaccine Candidate in Iran

Cuba announced Sunday that it signed an agreement with Iran to transfer the technology for its most advanced coronavirus vaccine candidate.

Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV) and the Pasteur Institute of Iran signed an agreement in Havana that will see a Phase 3 clinical trial in Iran, to "move forward faster in immunization against Covid-19 in both countries," the IFV announced on Twitter.

[embed]https://twitter.com/FinlayInstituto/status/1347699133067489280?s=08[/embed]

“This synergy will enable both countries to advance more rapidly in the immunization against the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” it added.

US has imposed sanctions against Iran and Cuba, that exclude medicines; however, it often prevents foreign pharmaceutical companies from trading with them.

Thus, the two countries seek self-reliance to overcome liquidity crisis.

Cuba says it wants to have its entire population immunized with its own vaccines by the first half of 2021.

Iran has launched human trials of its first domestic Covid-19 vaccine candidate late last month, while Cuba has four candidates currently in human trials.

The news came following Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banning the import of American and British-produced vaccines against Covid-19, saying they were "completely untrustworthy."

Khamenei said in a tweet, accompanied by the hashtag #CoronaVaccine: "It's not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations."

"Imports of U.S. and British vaccines into the country are banned. I have told this to officials and I'm saying it publicly now," he said in live televised speech.

"If the Americans were able to produce a vaccine, they would not have such a coronavirus fiasco in their own country," he added.