Sputnik V continues to stir up criticism and defiance from health experts! Islamic Republic politicians chose to import the Russian coronavirus without consulting the healthcare community. After Shahriari and Mohraz, Kermanpour said the vaccine is not approved in the eyes of physicians! The head of Public Relations Office for Iran Medical Council said, “WHO approval for importing a vaccine is vital and since Sputnik doesn’t have such document, it’s not acceptable in medical community.”
98 members of Iran Medical Council wrote a letter to Hassan Rouhani with the same notion. “There is no transparency in human trial data of the Russian vaccine. The evidence based on which FDA has approved this vaccine is not known to the medical experts. Sputnik V has not been confirmed by any reputable and reliable international institution.”
In defense of Islamic Republic comes the Health Minister. Saeed Namaki said, “To hell with critics, we will use the vaccine on our own and families first.” He said, “We’re not that shameless to import bad vaccine to Iran.” He accused the critics for having financial gain in other deals and vaccines and praised himself for being “anti-corruption.” Head of FDA followed the same line. He attacked the critics by saying “the FDA has full authority” and “I’m doing my job.” He added, “We won’t back down due to others attacking our decision.” The authorities have not shown any document or data showing the safety and efficacy of Sputnik V.
Meanwhile, provinces continue to report increasing number of cases and walk-ins in the country. Fars, Lorestan, Hormozgan, Kermanshah, North Khorasan, Khuzestan, Zanjan, Mazandaran and Golestan officials recorded soaring COVID-19 cases. Ministry of Health officials, including the Spokesperson, keep warning about the next coronavirus peak and decreasing number of people abiding by the protocols. But the manipulated figures reported by Sima Sadat Lari shows decreasing cases and deaths, preparing everything for the “10-day celebration of Islamic Revolution anniversary,” starting from today until February 10.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson reported 70 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours in Iran while 6,268 have tested positive for coronavirus. Sadat Lari warned about the “extremely fragile” situation in Mazandaran and other northern provinces, demanding people to stay home and not gather for any reason. Testing remains in the same range.
Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) and graphs indicate about 12 months of crisis in Iran while Islamic Republic keeps exacerbating the situation.
R0: 4.17
Total: 1,417,999 (+6,268)
Dead: 57,959 (+70)
Recovered: 1,210,051
Critical: 3,932 (-32)
Admitted: 149,989 (-960)
Tests: 9,285,288 (11.1% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Shahab Ghayoumi
