In addition to shortage of vaccines, bold claims such as what Islamic Republic head of FDA made today, have left Iranians befuddled and at a loss. Dr. Shanehsaz said his agency is under a lot of pressure to fast track the two homemade vaccines (COVIran Barekat and PastoCoVac) but pretended that until all their scientific data is not assessed they will not be approved for emergency use. Officials have promised the two vaccines would be ready by last week to replace some of the shortage that is going on across Iran. Head of the FDA also promised 70% of the population would be vaccinated by fall! A claim that seems impossible, even if everything goes according to the regime’s “plan.”
According to Shanehsaz, the bare minimum production of domestic vaccines would be 197 million doses per year! He asserted 10million will be ready during the summer and from the beginning of fall, 10million will be produced per month! He then concluded that 70% would be vaccinated in fall. 70% of Iran population is about 60,000,000 people, which would need 120,000,000 shots! It is worth noting, other than the vaccine availability, National Task Force Spokesman stated the vaccination capacity in the country is maximum 300,000 jabs per day! That means it takes more than a year to fully vaccinate 70% of the population.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Health announced 5,154,639 total shot have been administered in Iran since February 9. And only 827,106 are fully vaccinated.
On the other hand, provincial authorities continue to sound the alarm about the next wave of coronavirus in the country, especially considering the ongoing “elections” gatherings without following any protocol. Hamedan Medical University warned the hospitals must be ready to fight the next wave. Dr. Jalili reported 60+ COVID-19 hospitalizations every day and it is increasing. Dr. Moradi of Kermanshah Medical University explicitly announced the fifth wave is on its way to the province, expressing his worry over “elections” gatherings.
Western Ahvaz Health Network reports 40-50% positivity rate on a daily basis! Dr. Ahmadi said until herd immunity, the coronavirus will be here! Fars officials followed the same line of warnings, saying protocols are forgotten and the next breakout is a reality. Hormozgan authorities cited 9 of their counties are in “red” status and reported hospitals are at full capacity. It is worth noting, almost all these provinces have identified cases of Indian (Delta) variant.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 187 died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in Iran and 8,195 tested for the novel coronavirus. Sima Sadat Lari failed to mention any specific data about the variants. However, both numbers show a significant increase from the day before. Iran Medical Board officials have estimated the real numbers are at least 3 times higher than the daily reports. Graphs vividly picture the 16-month long incompetence and mismanagement of COVID-19 crisis in Iran by the Islamic Republic.
R0: 2.90
Total: 3,028,717 (+8,195)
Dead: 82,098 (+187)
Recovered: 2,652,792
Critical: 3,445 (-38)
Active Cases: 293,827 (-4,503)
Tests: 21,563,119 (25.7% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Ali Asghar Ghezelsafloo
