Dr. Ganjbakhsh in an interview with Voice of America: Khamenei intended to impose the Chinese vaccine on the Iranian people
Dr. Amir Hossein Ganjbakhsh, head of the Biophotonics Division at the US National Institutes of Health, reacted to the recent announcement by the Iranian President that the private sector would enter the field of vaccine importation in Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced on April 10 that Iran’s private sector would be allowed to import vaccines. Mr. Rouhani told a cabinet meeting that any private sector could import vaccines for half a dollar. He added that the vaccine imported by the government would be free, given priority, and “may reach ordinary people later.”
This is while previously, Haidar Mohammadi, the pharmaceutical director of the Ministry of Health, had said that imported vaccines, regardless of the route they arrive, will ultimately be purchased by the Ministry of Health and injected into the people for free.
Dr. Amir Hossein Ganjbakhsh said in an interview with the Persian service of the Voice of America that, given Ayatollah Khamenei's ban on the entry of Western vaccines into Iran and then the signing of a 25-year contract with China, it seems that he intended to impose the Chinese vaccine on the people as a bargaining chip.
Mr. Ganjbakhsh says that although the private sector can play an important role in public vaccination, this role has not been defined in Iran and it seems that the roles of the two streams, the government and the private sector, have been reversed. Regarding the transfer of vaccination to the private sector in Iran, Dr. Ganjbakhsh says: “The right of Iranian citizens to be vaccinated should not be allowed to become a tool of the government.”
The private sector's involvement in vaccine imports has also drawn criticism from social media users. Many have expressed concerns about the possibility of foreign exchange rents and that the decision will pave the way for the allocation of foreign exchange to certain individuals and companies. Others have raised the issue of unfair distribution of vaccines based on wealth and influence in the wake of entrusting vaccine imports to the private sector.
