The ineffective and unverified vaccines used in Iran, especially Sinopharm and COVIran Barekat, have been the root of concern and hesitation for many Iranians. Parents express their worry about inoculating their children with the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, Sinopharm, which has not been approved for the use by any international health organization, but Islamic Republic officials say, “It is none of WHO’s business” to approve the vaccine. Dr. Shahriari, head of Health Commission at the Islamic Republic parliament, emphasized it’s the Ministry of Health and FDA’s jobs to approve a vaccine, not WHO! The use of Sinopharm in children have not been studied enough but regime has begun using it and mandating in-person classes for students 12-18 years old.
Islamic Republic continues its propaganda-based management of the COVID-19 crisis in Iran. While Mr. Health Minister is proud of his “record-breaking number of administered doses,” Khuzestan officials announced the poor and slow vaccination in the province. Dr. Alavi of Ahvaz Medical University warned about the next wave in November and expressed his concern that the vaccination rate in his province is “only 27% instead of 80+%.” He added the situation is fragile, especially with the “very low compliance rate.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Eynollahi announced that “smart quarantine” plan will be introduced in the National COVID-19 Task Force meeting tomorrow, which will require vaccination card for any social service or gathering, including banking services, public transportation,… The Task Force Spokesman reiterated the “plan” saying, “We gave people 2-3 weeks to get vaccinated!” Again, using the “vaccinated” loosely and pretending 1 dose is enough.
On the other hand, Delta variant continues its to involve thousands of Iranians a day, and western part of the country remains “red”. According to the new “coloring map” of the Ministry, 29 cities remain “red” while 224 are “orange”, 165 “yellow” and 30 “blue”. Tehran Corona Combating Committee reported 56 “black fungus” cases in the capital hospitals. Dr. Zali claimed the number of mucormycosis patients hasn’t increased in the past 72 hours, “it’s a good sign that the Tehran has passed the peak.” He did not mention how many “black fungus” cases have been admitted during the fifth wave, dominated by Delta.
The Ministry of Health claimed, since February 9, total of 49,100,672 shots have been administered across Iran, and only 15,093,292 (17.96% of population) have received both doses. Sima Sadat Lari also asserted 284 died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 15,294 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. According to Civil Registration Organization data, more than 284,000 have died of the disease since February 2020. Professor Holakoui of Tehran University believes the real numbers are 7 times higher than the daily reports. Graphs illustrate the ongoing crisis in Iran for more than 19 months.
R0: 2.32
Total: 5,508,885 (+15,294)
Dead: 118,792 (+284)
Recovered: 4,897,876
Critical: 6,502 (-84)
Active Cases: 492,217 (-10,003)
Total Tests: 31,545,337
Cover: Fatemeh Rahimavian
