Iran’s Health Minister: We Will No Longer Import Coronavirus Vaccines
After numerous back-and-forths about importing coronavirus vaccines and following the deaths of tens of thousands due to lack of vaccines over five months, Iranian officials finally agreed to allow vaccine imports. Now, however, the country has returned to its previous stance.
On Thursday, December 25, during a ceremony at the Razi Institute for Serum and Vaccine Production in Karaj, in the presence of the Health and Medical Education Minister and the Agriculture Jihad Minister, five million doses of “Razi Cov Pars” vaccine were handed over to the Health Ministry.
However, the main news is not this but rather the statements made by the Health Minister that have drawn media attention. Bahram Eynollahi, at the margins of this ceremony and in front of journalists, said: “We will no longer have any imports and will rely on domestic production, and we are confident that we will have any type of vaccine for our people.”
The Health Minister once again emphasized the effectiveness of the domestically produced coronavirus vaccine and said: “According to studies, vaccines produced domestically are unparalleled in terms of effectiveness and quality, and this is difficult for hostile media, which launch propaganda wars against Iranian vaccines.”
According to him, Razi Cov Pars vaccine provides over 90 percent protection, and more than 60,000 people have so far received this vaccine as part of experimental and operational testing. This vaccine is administered in three doses: two injection doses and one inhalation dose.
The Health Minister emphasized that his ministry exercises very high precision in approving domestically produced vaccines and “every vaccine that is approved is unparalleled, of quality, with effectiveness and high standards”.
Bahram Eynollahi reiterated that the government’s priority is domestically produced vaccines and no more coronavirus vaccines will be imported.
The Agriculture Jihad Minister also said at this ceremony that the Razi company had promised to deliver five million doses of vaccine by the beginning of autumn, which has been fulfilled.
He continued by stating that by the end of the year, 40 million doses of vaccine produced by the Razi Institute will be delivered, and said: “Our expectation from the Health Ministry is that these vaccines are purchased in advance, and considering export requests, permission is also granted to export part of the surplus produced vaccine to other countries so that the economic sector of this organization increases as well.”
Vaccine Import Ban and a Retracted Statement
Coronavirus vaccine imports were halted by Khamenei’s edict in December of last year, which banned imports of American and British vaccines. It was later revealed that even a shipment that was supposed to be sent to Iran under the global COVAX program was rejected.
In the summer of this year, with the arrival of Ibrahim Raisi’s hardline government and the rising death toll from coronavirus, Khamenei retracted his position and said any necessary measures should be taken to secure vaccines.
Now that imported vaccines have reduced the death and infection rates, talk of banning vaccine imports has resurfaced. This is while Shafa Pharmed, the manufacturer of Barkat vaccine, was supposed to deliver 50 million doses of the vaccine to the Health Ministry by the end of summer 1400. However, based on reports from Iranian domestic media, the total number of vaccines delivered by domestic manufacturers to the Health Ministry until late October of the current year has not even reached 15 million doses, and the country’s main needs are being met through importing foreign vaccines.
If the Health Minister’s statement is actually implemented and vaccine imports are again banned, it is unclear what fate awaits the Iranian people with the onset of winter and cold season.
Source: DW
