Jahanpour Once Again Denies Loss of 200,000 Corona Vaccine Doses

The spokesperson of the Food and Drug Organization denied claims by a parliament representative regarding the loss of a large number of coronavirus vaccine doses for the third time. The representative states that data from the Ministry of Health’s own system indicates the status of 200,000 vaccine doses is unclear.

The head of the Ministry of Health’s Public Relations Center and spokesperson of the Food and Drug Organization for the third time in three days called claims about the loss of 200,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine in Iran unfounded.

Kianush Jahanpour wrote on Thursday, May 13, in response to these claims in a tweet: “No vaccine has been lost and will not be lost, and its information is continuously traceable. What apparently has been lost outside the health system for a long time is the honesty of some politicians and documented, calculated statements.”

Mohsen Dehnavi, Tehran’s representative in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, had said a few days earlier that in a letter, he requested Health Minister Saeed Namaki to send a report on the number of imported and administered vaccines “as soon as possible.”

He said public reports indicate the free sale of coronavirus vaccine in the market or “its injection by profiteers and privileged individuals” and that addressing vaccine distribution should be at the top of the health minister’s priorities.

Unanswered Letter to Health Minister About Missing Vaccine

Dehnavi, while repeating this accusation, specifically spoke of the loss or unclear status of 200,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine, and Kianush Jahanpour in a tweet and in an interview with ISNA news agency called his statements pure falsehood.

Tehran’s representative reacted yesterday to Jahanpour’s denial and wrote to him: “Either you don’t know or maybe you don’t know!”

According to the Food and Drug Organization’s spokesperson, so far 3,159,000 doses of vaccine have entered Iran, and it is expected that at least 2 million more doses will arrive by the end of Ordibehesht.

Based on official statistics from the Ministry of Health released Thursday, May 13, since vaccination began in Iran on February 11 until now, a total of 2,923,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine have been administered to citizens.

Ahmadinejad and Top Officials’ Vaccination

Another recent controversy regarding vaccination in Iran was the statement made a few days ago by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, head of the ninth and tenth governments, who said: “Top-ranking officials of the country are very careful about their health and have been vaccinated; now which country’s vaccine it was remains to be seen.”

Abdolreza Davari, Ahmadinejad’s former advisor, recently stated that he himself on January 16, 2021, at the residence of Hamid Baqai, deputy of the tenth government’s chief executive, received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from American and German companies.

Ahmadinejad yesterday, after registering to participate in the presidential elections, in front of his supporters denied receiving coronavirus vaccine and at the same time said that from some statements made, it is clear that senior officials of the Islamic Republic have been vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech.

The Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on January 9, prohibited the import of British and American vaccines and said he had previously discussed this with officials and is now stating it publicly.

Officials’ delay in providing the required vaccines to citizens and failure to fulfill their repeated promises in this regard have faced many criticisms.

Kianush Jahanpour, in an interview with ILNA news agency, expressed hope that “with the fulfillment of promises made” by the end of June, 7 to 10 million doses of vaccine will enter Iran.

Regarding the joint production of the Russian “Sputnik V” vaccine in Iran, he said four Iranian companies have been introduced to the manufacturing company in Russia, and the infrastructure of two companies has been approved.

Promises and the Dream of Vaccine Exports

Jahanpour added: “But the fact that it is in the production phase and producing output has not happened so far. It seems that for the next few weeks we will still not have domestic production of Sputnik.”

The Health Minister on April 21 at a meeting of the local coronavirus response headquarters in Alborz province had announced that joint production of the Russian “Sputnik V” vaccine would begin next week or the week after in this province.

Saeid Namaki expressed confidence that Iran from June onwards and at the end of spring would become one of the “very good producers” of coronavirus vaccine and one of its exporters to the world.

Statistics of vaccines imported and administered in the past three months show that at least so far Iran is far behind most countries in the region in terms of vaccinating its citizens.

Death Toll Below 300 People

Meanwhile, it appears that in most Iranian provinces the fourth wave of coronavirus that began at the start of this year has passed its peak and the number of new cases and deaths is declining with fluctuations.

According to the Ministry of Health’s announcement, in the past 24 hours, 14,246 new cases of coronavirus were identified in Iran and 297 people infected with COVID-19 disease lost their lives.

Since late March, this is the second time that the death toll in one day has been less than 300 people. On May 2, the number of deaths in one day reached about 500, which was the highest death rate from COVID-19 since the official confirmation of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran began.

Based on official statistics from the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic until now, 76,231 people infected with COVID-19 disease have died in Iran. Most experts assess the actual number to be much higher and at least two and a half times this number.

Source: DW