TEHRAN – Pasteur Institute of Iran has exported more than 700,000 doses of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine to Venezuela.

The BCG vaccine has a documented protective effect against meningitis and disseminated tuberculosis in children. 

Highlighting the significance of boosting science diplomacy, Ehsan Mostafavi, president of Pasteur Institute of Iran, said this is a successful example of health-based international interactions, which can be recognized as a model for the expansion of Iran’s scientific and technological impacts in the global health sector, ILNA reported.

Pasteur Institute of Iran has been developing the BCG vaccine since 1947. It is one of the strategic products with international standards manufactured in the institute, the official noted.

By recognizing the international capacities and identifying the health needs of other countries, the institute is planning to develop a variety of vaccines to export, Mostafavi added. 

The global vaccine market serves as a good opportunity to enhance Iran’s role in the global health chain. Pasteur Institute of Iran intends to play a more active role in promoting public health in the country as well as in developing countries, in line with its historical mission.

The Pasteur Network is a vast scientific community. Located in endemic areas, the network has access to a large number of pathogens that it monitors and studies on the five continents where it is present. 

This diversity makes the Pasteur Network a global player in public health, science, innovation, and education, especially in the fight against infectious diseases.

On January 13, the head of Iran’s Union of Medical Equipment Manufacturers and Exporters said that medical equipment worth around $20 million is exported to more than 60 countries annually.

More than 70 percent of medical equipment and 100 percent of normal hospital beds are domestically made, IRNA quoted Abdolreza Yaqoubzadeh as saying.

Also, over 95 percent of specific ICU and CCU beds and more than 85 percent of operating room medical equipment, such as anesthesia machines and other equipment,t are manufactured with cutting-edge technology in the country, he added.

MT/MG