Priority-setting for early access to COVID-19 vaccines in Islamic Republic of Iran.

Background: Priority-setting for early access to vaccines during a pandemic optimizes the impact of vaccine rollout, however, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have little experience in policymaking on this. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the national clinical ethics committee developed a policy for early access to COVID-19 vaccines with support from the national committee on COVID-19 vaccine.

Aims: This paper reports the process and results of a national COVID-19 vaccine priority-setting in the Islamic Republic of Iran and discusses its ethical and cultural aspects.

Comparison of culture and real-time PCR for detection of Bordetella pertussis isolated from patients in Iran.

Background And Objective: Due to contagiousness of pertussis, a rapid and sensitive method for diagnosis is required to initiate the treatment and interrupt its transmission.

Materials And Methods: To detect B. pertussis strains, we used two real-time PCR targeting IS481 and BP283 sequences and compared factors influencing culture and real-time PCR results.