The talents and abilities of Iranians are famous all over the world and they believe that Iranians have always been able to do anything. But there are those who still have doubts about their country's capabilities, and especially in the discussion of making the corona vaccine, emphasize the purchase of medicine and basic items from foreigners. In order to provide some confidence in Iran's actions in the field of counter-coronation, we spoke with Parviz Karami, Head of the Culture and Knowledge-Based Economy and Development of Soft and Creative Industries and Head of the Communication and Information Center in the Vice Presidency of Science and Technology.

Isn't making the corona vaccine and getting it to the human testing stage an example of the famous phrase "we can"?

 

 In recent years, the discussion of vaccines is one of the examples of "we can", because it is a scientific and technological work, and countries claiming this must have high knowledge and sophisticated technology to be able to make vaccines in animal and human species. Fortunately, Iran has proved to be a bit of a producer and producer in this field, considering the indexing and evaluation of international organizations and institutions and the history of vaccine production by specialized and talented manpower and the formation of an innovation and technology ecosystem and its significant technical and technological capabilities.

According to the World Health Organization, Iran ranks 11th among the 16 countries producing the corona vaccine in the world. Our country is in this ranking after countries such as the United States, China, Canada, Germany, Brazil, Australia. In fact, Iran has been able to prove that we are one of the world's best vaccinators in the Middle East, and many of the vaccines currently used in the world are produced in Iran.

 

Why is there no public belief in this ability and capacity of Iran, and now that we are talking about the corona vaccine, people are emphasizing more on buying foreign vaccines?

 

There are two reasons for this, first, the misconception that has been produced by the Western media over the years and injected into Iranian society, and second, that our country has been mainly import-oriented, meaning that we have been among the countries with high financial capacity. We met our needs (even small screws or needles) by buying from foreign countries, and usually we did not have the energy, strength and determination to build and pay attention to domestic production.

These two main factors kept the capabilities of the Iranians unknown until cruel sanctions were imposed on us by the United States and the colonial powers, and it was here that "we can" began, relying on the power of Iran, Iranian scientists and technologists, especially companies. Scholars in various fields of science and technology began to break the harsh sanctions and meet the needs of the country. Making vaccines against various diseases and viruses was on the agenda of our pharmaceutical and biotech companies, but it did not receive much media and public attention until a corona pandemic occurred and the issue became more public. Making the corona vaccine "Made in Iran" was quoted.

So, we have advanced to make the corona vaccine completely with the internal capacity of the country's scientists and researchers, right?

At present, Iran has the ability to supply any kind of medicine needed by the country from the ecosystem of drug production and laboratory equipment in knowledge-based companies and scientific research centers. Usually, different countries, using media tools, intend to imply that the Iranians cannot have such an Iranian market for themselves.

At present, Iran, with the efforts of knowledge-based companies and reputable scientific research centers with different methods of manufacturing and production of corona vaccines in the world (these vaccines are based on 4 types or bases of "complete virus", "virus carrier (reproducible and non-replicating)", "DNA, RNA and "protein") have been started by various companies. Most companies go through the animal phase and go through the human clinical trial phase.

How similar are the Iranian vaccines under development to foreign vaccines; Is Brahman building the foundation or is Iran's method of making the vaccine different from the others?

 Various companies in Iran have started to manufacture the corona vaccine, the largest of which are companies under the executive headquarters of Imam Khomeini (as), the Barakat Knowledge Foundation. Fortunately, the Iranian vaccine made by Barakat Institute entered the human stage and we all witnessed that it successfully passed the first stage of the human test and entered the second stage.

It is worth mentioning that vaccines made in Iran must meet all the necessary standards and indicators to be able to go through different stages and even obtain the necessary coordination with the World Health Organization. In addition to the Barakat Scholars Institute, the Iranian vaccine is under construction by the Razi Vaccine Institute, the Pasteur Institute of Iran vaccine, the Iranian vaccine of a privately owned company (incidentally entered the humanities stage with the necessary licenses), the vaccine of the Ministry of Defense and the Iranian vaccine of the University of Medical Sciences. They are active in various ways. They mostly go through the animal phase and go through the human clinical phase to be able to meet the required standards.

 

For example, companies working with the Barakat Institute make Oxford, Sputnik (Russian Crohn's vaccine) or Sinovac (Chinese Crohn's vaccine) vaccines. Also, a company at the Barakat Institute working on mRNA-based corona vaccines (such as the Maderna and Pfizer vaccines) has completed the animal phase phase.

 

Razi Serum is developing a corona vaccine based on recombinant proteins (such as the Novax vaccine) that is in the process of being licensed in humans. Several knowledge-based companies are also working on mRNA-based corona vaccines, which are in the process of obtaining human clinical licenses.

 

 The point I need to make here is that American-British vaccines are licensed for emergencies, and in emergencies no vaccine company guarantees post-injection complications and does not allow the country to access all production data. In addition, vaccines must be administered with a specific schedule and time that Iran does not have the opportunity to use foreign vaccines.

The British and American vaccines are not even as big as the people of their own country, and the Persian Gulf countries that claim to have been vaccinated have not received the American and British vaccines and mainly use Russian, Indian and Chinese vaccines. But in order to build the Corona vaccine, Iran is considering providing for its 80 million population and even major global markets, and in this regard, it is preparing the necessary infrastructure and carrying out its work with confidence, observance of standards and indicators of medical health professionals.

Iran's history in vaccination is brilliant, so without a doubt, we can show our capabilities and shine in the world in the field of Corona vaccine supply as in the past.

Iran has a history of making vaccines for about 80 years and is one of the top vaccinators in the region in the field of production of required vaccines such as measles, mumps, polio, hepatitis B, meningitis, etc. or even in poultry and aquatic vaccines. This shows that we are not inferior to the developed countries of the world in making the required drugs.

How much has the knowledge-based economy helped us in the production of medicine, especially the corona vaccine?

 If Iran has anything to say today and we have been able to be among the 16 countries vaccinated against coronary heart disease, it all comes down to the talent, ability and creativity of the professional and creative youth who work in knowledge-based companies. In fact, Iran relies on the ability of these young people to take the lead.

When the story of the outbreak of coronary heart disease began in the world, different countries had less medicine and equipment to deal with it for their own citizens, let alone to help the Iranians in this regard. Therefore, with the help of creative and professional youth, we were able to produce and provide the necessary equipment and supplies, from masks and disinfectants to ventilators and diagnostic kits to complementary drugs, up-to-date protocols, etc. to fight coronary heart disease.

At present, the same countries that claim advanced power and technology are left in their work, and as statistics show, today the United States, Britain and Germany are ranked first to third in the world in terms of corona mortality, but in Iran, according to health protocols, The dedication of doctors and hospital staff and the cooperation of the people have enabled us to bring the death rate of our compatriots closer to double-digit and even single-digit numbers in the future.

In your opinion, with this process, that is, the belief of the government and the nation in the knowledge-based economy in the country, and this field is valued as it should be?

Even if the country's officials do not believe in knowledge-based people, they are powerful enough to impose their power, talent and innovation on society, because now every creative, innovative and wealth-creating event that is created is the result of their work. Nearly 350,000 direct jobs have been created for university graduates with 5,600 knowledge-based companies. Last year, the turnover of knowledge-based and creative companies was about 150,000 billion tomans, which shows that the major innovations and meeting the needs of society have occurred with the help of such companies.

 

Colonial countries may be able to impose sanctions on our global oil, gas and petrochemical markets, but knowledge, technology and knowledge-based products cannot be sanctioned, and this could reflect the authority and bright future of Islamic Iran, which the wise leadership of the revolution promises will always support. are.

How do you see investing in a knowledge-based economy? Is this area especially needed in the 1400 budget bill?

With all the problems we have in discussing budget and income in the country, but in my opinion, the Islamic Consultative Assembly pays special attention to the economy of knowledge-based and creative companies, and this is clear in addition to next year's budget bill by following the production leap plan. Fortunately, the parliament and the government have taken the issue of knowledge-based seriously and are pursuing its growth and promotion.

Knowledge-based countries are the country's mainstay in the transition from the oil economy to the knowledge-based economy and the realization of a resistance economy.

Report by the Communication and Information Center in the Vice Presidency of Science and Technology, quoted by the Student News Agency