President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that COVID-19 vaccinations will begin in the coming weeks in Iran.

“In this meeting, it was announced that all efforts are being made to start the vaccination in the country in the month of Bahman, God willing, and this is a very important job,” he told a meeting of the national task force for fighting the coronavirus in Tehran on Saturday.

Rouhani said that in the next Persian calendar year, which starts on March 21, three Iranian vaccines will be available.

Some of these vaccines are completely homegrown and the remaining are joint products, he added.

Iran will receive over 16 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, a multi-agency group dedicated to assuring fair access to vaccines for low- and middle-income countries, Rouhani said, adding that the country will also try to procure vaccines from elsewhere.

“The domestic vaccine is an honor for us, and the foreign vaccine is a necessity … until the domestic one is available,” he emphasized.

Last month, Iran launched human trials of its first domestically-developed COVID-19 vaccine after successfully completing the initial steps and obtaining necessary approvals.