Khuzestan and East Azerbaijan join the list of provinces with positive Omicron cases. Hashemi, director of PR office at the Ministry of Health, tweeted the total number of cases as 159 across 16 provinces of Iran. He mentioned 3 cases in Tabriz, capital of East Azerbaijan, while province officials reported 4 Omicron patients. Deputy Head of Tabriz Medical University mentioned the increase in COVID-19 cases and 5-6 deaths per day. Dr. Dorosti admitted “many have not received their 2nd or 3rd doses of vaccines.” This discrepancy is a small fraction of lies the regime tries to cover up.
Another discrepancy is in the actual number of vaccines imported, used and “manufactured domestically.” Head of Islamic Republic FDA claimed “no more vaccine will be imported” and “domestic” companies will produce 15million doses every month to supply the country’s need, including the 3rd dose. The majority of shots used so far have been the Chinese Sinopharm which will lose its little efficacy after 4 months and needs a “booster!” WHO had recommended 3-dose of it to be “fully vaccinated” against Delta, let alone the vaccine evasive Omicron.
COVIran Barekat, the other major shot used in Iran, had already promised to produce 50million doses by September 2020, but it has delivered about 15 million doses to the Ministry of Health by December 21, 2020. Other “homegrown vaccines” has also produced measly numbers: PastoCoVac 6.3m, Spikogen 6m, and CovPars 5m.
Furthermore, each source reports a different figure for the number of vaccines imported. The regime’s Customs records show more than 147million doses imported (Until December 21, 2020). Red Crescent Society claims that number is 112million and the Ministry of Health says 117.8million doses have been imported from other countries! Of all these numbers, since February 9, 2020, total of 120,003,437 shots have been administered, 52,042,721 (61.95% of Iran population) received 2 doses while only 8,091,164 (9.63% of population) of it were 3rd shot. There have been reports of the Islamic Republic providing vaccines to Hezbollah terrorist group, which could explain the discrepancy in these figures.
Meanwhile, Mr. Health Minister provided another set of numbers regarding vaccines! Eynollahi said 180million doses of different vaccines have been stocked, 30million of which “Iranian.” He added, Noora, IRGC’s vaccine, will enter the basket in the next month. He also made bold claims about the devastating situation of medicines in the market. Eynollahi threatened the physicians who prescribe brands to “lower grades” especially the faculty members of medical universities. He urged all physicians to write “domestic version of all drugs.” He claimed soon there would be no need to foreign drugs, just like the vaccines and that would bring the price of drugs lower.
Contrary to Eynollahi, Deputy Head of Drug Importers Union of Iran revealed the regime claims about “domestic medicines” is a big lie and they sell the “Chinese drugs as domestic.” Mojtaba Bourbour also unveiled “all primary materials for drug production are imported from China, India, US and EU countries.” He said the Ministry of Health “pick and choose” method towards importing drugs has caused a lot of hardships for people needing the medicines.
On the other hand, Secretary of Scientific Committee of National COVID-19 asserted since Omicron was discovered in Iran in a short period after the majority of second-dose vaccination happened, therefore, it will not spread as much as it has in other countries. Dr. Jama’ati admitted the number of sequencing tests performed in the country is much lower than other countries, but added, “considering our country’s (economic) situation, more tests may not be needed!” He announced the committee’s approval of PastoCoVac and Sinopharm for children 5-11 years old and urged the National Task Force to decide about the matter as soon as possible. It is worth mentioning, none of the failed “homegrown vaccines” has published its data and none is approved by any international organization.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 41 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 1,510 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Number of daily tests performed in the country continue to decline despite experts advice to have a more active case finding. Professor of Epidemiology at Tehran University believes these numbers must be multiplied by 7 and Civil Registration Organization data show more than 315,000 have died of the disease since February 2020. Graphs illustrate the ongoing crisis in Iran and forming of the new wave.
R0: 1.54
Total: 6,196,913 (+1,510)
Dead: 131,680 (+41)
Recovered: 6,040,897
Critical: 2,658 (-18)
Active Cases: 24,336 (-257)
Total Tests: 42,180,249
Cover: Ali Haddadi-Asl
