By Staff, Agencies

Iran said eight of the vaccines it is formulating locally against COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, have made their way onto the World Health Organization [WHO]’s list of 48 promising candidate vaccines.

Kianush Jahanpur, the spokesman of Iran’s Food and Drug Administration made the announcement on Friday in a tweet, which included a screenshot of the WHO’s ‘draft landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines.’

Iranian scientists, along with researchers from around the world, have been racing to develop safe and effective vaccines aimed at stopping the spread of the highly-infectious respiratory disease.

As many as a dozen teams of Iranian specialists have been working round-the-clock in the field while adhering to international standards and WHO guidelines, out of which four have reported promising results in tests on animals, Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki said late last month.

Namaki also said Iran hoped to start human trials of three vaccines in the coming weeks, and that it had already informed the United Nations’ health body of its achievements.

In parallel with efforts at developing home-made vaccines, Iranian authorities said the county has plans to pre-purchase foreign versions that pass safety and efficiency tests.