Rumors about Sinopharm vaccine are political; official

In an exclusive interview with ILNA news agency, Majidreza Hariri stated that a large number of the vaccines imported into our country today, which amount to 20 million doses altogether, were loaded from the city of Beijing.

"The rumors about COVID vaccines are more political than a social or scientific fact. The rumors about the Sinopharm vaccine are even more political."

He mentioned that also reliable authorities working in the State Department have also distributed relevant information.

Pointing to the news about the Sinopharm vaccine and the difference between Wuhani and Beijing productions, he said “One company could easily produce the same vaccine in different areas of its hosting country. AstraZeneca, for example, is produced in many different areas of the world, as are the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.” 

"I’m unsure of whether or not Sinopharm produces vaccines in different cities, but when a company produces about 3 billion vaccine doses in the lesser half of a year, it makes it clear that it is not produced in a factory with one production line."

The head of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce added that Sinopharm is the main vaccine distributed and used in China itself, alongside Sinovac, a similar model of the Sinopharm vaccine.

Hariri added that Sinopharm has announced the price of $27 for its vaccine but it may sell it with cheaper prices like what it did for Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

"Iran has so far received over 20m doses of COVID-19 vaccines from China, expressing hope the number of doses to hit 40m by next month as the talks are underway."

He assured that the only WHO-approved vaccine from China is in fact Sinopharm, and that majority of the countries on the southern shores of the Persian Gulf use the same vaccine, given that it had gone to them long before Sinopharm entered Iran.

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