Eight Months After Khamenei’s Objection, Health Ministry Announces Free Import of Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines
About eight months after Iran’s Supreme Leader opposed the importation of American and British vaccines, Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, head of Iran’s Food and Drug Administration, announced that licenses have been issued to import Pfizer and Moderna vaccines into Iran.
On Monday, August 25, he stated that we have given and will continue to give permission to import Pfizer and Moderna from their authorized sources, and the name of a vaccine should not cause prohibition and restriction, rather its source should be trustworthy.
Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, banned the importation of American and British vaccines in December 2020 and emphasized domestic vaccine production. However, with the crisis escalating in recent weeks, on Wednesday, August 20 of this year, he called coronavirus the “first and urgent” issue of the country and demanded vaccine provision by any possible means.
Vaccination in Iran has accelerated in recent days, but delays in importing foreign vaccines and the failure of Barkat Pharmaceutical Company to fulfill its promises for domestic vaccine industrial production have caused widespread criticism.
Barkat Company, which is considered one of the economic institutions under the Office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, had promised to deliver more than 25 million doses of Barkat vaccine, which it claims to have produced, to the Health Ministry by mid-August, but according to official statistics, it has delivered less than one-tenth of that amount.
Alireza Zali, head of Tehran’s Corona Response Headquarters, announced on Wednesday, August 20, that “the cost of coronavirus drugs has been several times the cost of vaccine imports, but they did not allow vaccine purchases because they thought it was expensive.”
Mohammad Reza Zafargandi, head of the Iranian Medical System Organization, on Sunday evening, August 17, referring to “reduced mortality rates in countries that conducted vaccinations without restrictions and borders,” said: “Are those who issued statements to limit vaccine entry now accountable?”
Source: Radio Farda
