First Shipment of Controversial Russian Vaccine Arrives in Iran Thursday
In coordination with the Ministry of Health, the first shipment of Russian vaccine will arrive in Iran on Thursday, February 4. Experts have previously warned against using the Russian vaccine. Credible international bodies have not yet approved it.
A spokesman for the National Aviation Organization announced that in coordination with the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education, the National Coronavirus Combat Headquarters, and the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, it has been decided that the first phase of imports of Russian coronavirus vaccine will be loaded and transported to the country by Mahan Airlines on Thursday, February 4.
According to the Fars News Agency, Mohammad Hassan Zeibakhsh, regarding the volume and amount of the first shipment, said that “the volume and dosage of Russian coronavirus vaccines in the first part is in accordance with the request of the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education.”
Previously, numerous experts have warned against using the Russian vaccine.
Two days ago, 98 members of the General Assembly of the Medical System of the Islamic Republic in an open letter addressed to President Hassan Rouhani emphasized that as representatives of the medical community in various cities of the country, they oppose the purchase of “Sputnik V” vaccine and demand the purchase of “the best available vaccines in the world from multinational companies.”
American and British companies are involved in the production of credible multinational vaccines that have received permission from international bodies so far.
However, Ayatollah Khamenei has banned the import of such vaccines. The leader of the Islamic Republic declared on January 9 without presenting expert reasons that in his view American and British vaccines are ineffective.
The Sputnik vaccine received national approval for use in Russia about six months ago while the necessary information about the final stages of its clinical trials has not yet been provided to independent bodies and the World Health Organization. The European Union is reviewing this vaccine, and the first comprehensive study on it was recently published in the scientific journal Lancet, which indicates its 91 percent effectiveness.
In the letter of members of the General Assembly of the Medical System published before the publication of the Lancet study, while noting that “the effectiveness and safety” of Sputnik V vaccine “is faced with ambiguity and objection even in the producing country,” they stated the reasons for their opposition as follows:
“A: Transparent information about the research and production phases of Sputnik V vaccine is not available.
B: Sputnik V vaccine has not been approved by any credible global sources and its effectiveness and safety has been questioned by global bodies and even scientific figures of the Corona Headquarters.
C: Documents, evidence and reasons for approving this vaccine have not been made available to experts of the medical community.”
The letter further states that for the “medical community and people of Iran” such consideration in this regard is “unacceptable and unforgivable.”
Earlier, Minoo Mehraz, a member of the scientific committee of the Corona Combat Headquarters, said he considers the import of Russian vaccine a “bad luck for the Iranian people” and is unwilling to receive it.
Use of Russian vaccine in the European Union is currently unlikely
Russia last Friday, January 29, announced that it is ready to provide 100 million doses of “Sputnik V” vaccine to European countries, which could vaccinate 50 million people.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper on Sunday, January 31, quoted Germany’s health minister as saying: “If a vaccine is evaluated as effective and safe, it can help combat the coronavirus pandemic, regardless of which country it is produced in.”
He stressed that the decisive factor is the issuance of regular approval for each vaccine in accordance with European Union regulations. The “European Medicines Agency” is the only decision-making body for issuing approval for medicines and vaccines in European countries.
However, this agency has so far not approved any Chinese and Russian vaccine, and given the precondition that the German health minister considered decisive, there is at least currently no possibility of using vaccines produced by these two countries in the European Union.
Russia claims that it has submitted an application for approval of the Sputnik vaccine to the European Medicines Agency.
So far, three corona vaccines in which pharmaceutical companies from Germany, the United States and Britain participate in their production have been approved by the “European Medicines Agency” and are used in European countries: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.
