Reporting on Coronavirus Vaccine Imports Without Health Ministry Permission Prohibited
The head of the National Coronavirus Headquarters Information Committee, in correspondence with the head of Iran’s Customs Administration, has prohibited reporting in the field of foreign vaccine imports, including import volume, distribution, vaccination rates, and other related matters.
According to a Wednesday report on May 19 by Tasnim News Agency, the head of the coronavirus information committee stated in this letter that based on the guidelines for vaccine information dissemination in coronavirus control, all matters related to vaccine information dissemination must be coordinated with the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Sciences.
He claimed that the purpose of this prohibition is so that “citizens do not receive scattered and contradictory information and to prevent misuse by anti-system and anti-country elements.”
The stated rationale for prohibiting vaccine reporting comes at a time when recent reports about “tens of thousands of vaccines going missing in the country” have been published, though the Ministry of Health denies this claim.
Recently, Mohsen Dehnavi, representative of Tehran, had reported the disappearance of “200,000 coronavirus vaccines.”
The Ministry of Health has also prohibited reporting on domestic vaccine production, import volumes, country of origin, distribution methods, vaccination rates, and vaccine side effects without coordination with this ministry.
Source: Radio Farda
