Deputy Health Minister in Research, in a letter to Saeed Namaki, warned him about premature approval of COVIran Barekat while it hasn’t finished its clinical trials yet! Dr. Najafi wrote COVIran Barekat, PastoCoVac and other homegrown vaccines could only be approved for “emergency use” if there is no reliable vaccine available in the market! Islamic Republic Supreme Leader banned US and UK made vaccines, and the officials have been postponing import of vaccines, advertising the domestic ones for more than a year! The “homegrown” vaccines are either publicly made with Russia, Australia and Cuba or are secretly a rebrand of Chinese Sinopharm, probably the “Barekat.”
Additionally, the high price of each dose for COVIran Barekat which is 4+ times more than AstraZeneca and the proceeds going to the “Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order” under direct control of Khamenei, has created a huge backlash among Iranians, demanding clarification and pointing out the corruption. In response, Director of Public Relations Office at the Ministry of Health and FDA Spokesman, called “those people stupid and despicable!” After he was faced with raging comments for the insult, he doubled down on his comment and threatened to name corrupt officials who “see domestic vaccines are on their way!”
In the meantime, shortage of COVID-19 vaccines worsens with elderly waiting in long crowded lines for hours and days at times. The available vaccine is mostly the Chinese Sinopharm which its efficacy is in serious doubt. According to reports from Bahrain, Mongolia, and other countries relying on the vaccine, they are facing another outbreak of coronavirus! It is worth noting, Rouhani, Namaki, Raisi and other officials had promised 13-14million vulnerable individuals would be vaccinated by June 22! According to official data, since February 9, total of 5,481,669 shots have been administered while only 1,069,565 are fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Red Society officials announced another 1million doses have arrived in Tehran, without mentioning the source, but according to some reports, the shipment was from China.
On the other hand, Dr. Hamid Souri, head of COVID-19 Epidemiology Committee, rebuked the slow progress of vaccination and sounded the alarm for the fifth wave of coronavirus in Iran. Despite Islamic Republic hiding the specifics of variants in the country, Dr. Souri admits South African (Beta) and Indian (Delta) variants are raging through Hormozgan, Boushehr and Fars! He made it clear, “we are closer to the fifth wave” with these variants spreading in the country. The official demanded the vaccination to accelerate.
Ministry of Health added 10 new cities to the “high risk” areas and therefore the “red” counties were increased to 32, including Yazd, at the center of the country, Firouzkouh and Damavand in Tehran, and Mehran in Ilam. Other cities are spread through the south, south east in Kerman, Sistan-Baluchestan, Bushehr, Fars and Hormozgan. Gilan reported 5-10% increase in cases and Zanjan warned about the fifth wave with a rise in infections in the province.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 144 died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in Iran and 11,734 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Sima Sadat Lari refused to mention any details about the variants. Iran Medical Board officials have admitted the real numbers are at least 3 times higher than the daily reports. Graphs vividly show more than 16 months of mismanagement and incompetence by the Islamic Republic.
R0: 2.80
Total: 3,140,129 (+11,734)
Dead: 83,473 (+144)
Recovered: 2,797,105
Critical: 3,225 (-11)
Active Cases: 259,551 (-1,501)
Tests: 22,945,493 (27.3% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Social media – Elderly waiting in line for COVID-19 shot!
