107 weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, 19 of 31 provinces show increasing number of daily deaths, 1,278 dying in the past week while 8,608 were admitted and 36,349 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Dr. Kasaeian, deputy head of Semnan Medical University expressed his worry about “normalization” in the country, urging people to receive their 3rd dose of vaccination as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Mashhad officials estimate there would be about 500,000 “pilgrims” every day in the “holy shrine.” The Islamic Republic has been encouraging religious gatherings since the pandemic began in Iran, despite medical advice of professionals. Contrary to the Ministry of Health definition of “full vaccination with 3 doses,” Islamic Republic has announced 2 dose will be enough for traveling and entering museums and tourism attractions across the country.
The Islamic Republic “Supreme Leader” banned the reliable US and UK made vaccines, leading to tsunami of deaths during Delta wave. Khamenei promoted his foundation’s shot, COVIran Barekat, which failed miserably. Multiple “homegrown” vaccines, including PastoCoVac, COVPars, Fakhra, Noora, Spikogen, never met the expectations and none of them has published their results or received recognition/approval from international health organizations.
According to official definition of “full vaccination” and Ministry of Health data, since February 9, only 25,061,196 (29.83% of Iran population) are vaccinated against COVID-19 with these vaccines. It is estimated that more than 53 million Iranians are at risk of contracting Omicron. The majority of shots used in Iran are the ineffective Sinopharm and COVIran Barekat. WHO recommends 3 doses of Sinopharm to be effective against Delta but studies have found the vaccine ineffective against Omicron.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 118 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 3,330 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 325,000 have died of the disease since February 2020.
R0: 1.94
Total: 7,123,093 (+3,330)
Dead: 138,949 (+118)
Recovered: 6,779,949
Critical: 2,832 (-89)
Active Cases: 204,195 (-2,540)
Total Tests: 48,250,947
Cover: Amirabbas Ghasemi
