Iran's new government has approved the Covid-19 vaccine developed by US firm Johnson & Johnson , a senior official said, as the Islamic Republic faces a fifth wave of infections.

The announcement came eight months after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned imports of vaccines made by the United States and Britain — though Iran has since accepted vaccines developed by Western firms but manufactured elsewhere.

The Johnson & Johnson single-dose corona vaccine has been approved, the head of Iran's Food and Drug Administration, Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

Shanehsaz said Russia's single-component Sputnik Light vaccine had also been approved.