The emergency use of an Iranian coronavirus vaccine financed by the Barakat Foundation has been authorized, Health Minister Saeed Namaki said.

In comments at a conference in Arak on Monday, the health minister said the emergency-use authorization has been granted for COVIran Barekat, the homegrown vaccine for the coronavirus named after the pharmaceutical group that has developed it.

Namaki also noted that the emergency use of another vaccine developed jointly by Cuba and the Pasteur Institute of Iran will be authorized next week.

The COVIran vaccine has gone into three stages of clinical trials, the last of which involved 20,000 people in the cities of Tehran, Bushehr, Shiraz, Karaj, Mashhad and Isfahan.

Iran has already granted emergency use authorization to Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, Covaxin made by India�s Bharat Biotech, Oxford/AstraZeneca developed by Russia�s R-Pharm Group, and the AstraZeneca-SKBio made in South Korea.