Iran's Ministry of Health: Only 161,000 doses of vaccine have been administered in the country

Iran's Ministry of Health says that so far only 161,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered to citizens, and the country's medical system has also announced that "we have wasted an opportunity in importing vaccines."

While various countries are rapidly vaccinating their populations, Kianoush Jahanpour, spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration of the Iranian Ministry of Health, announced on Monday, April 29, that so far 695,000 imported coronavirus vaccines have been distributed in the country's health network and 161,601 doses of the vaccine have been administered.

He said the main recipients of these vaccines were medical staff.

The injectable vaccines in Iran are of the Chinese and Russian types, which are less effective compared to the European and American types.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, announced on January 9 last year that the entry of American and British coronavirus vaccines into Iran is "prohibited" and that the production of vaccines within the country should not be "denied."

Now, while Iran's neighbor Turkey announced on Monday that 15 million of its population had been vaccinated, Mr. Jahanpour says that in Iran, fewer than 162,000 people have been vaccinated, equivalent to two-tenths of a percent of the country's population. Of course, these people also need to receive a second dose of the vaccine.

This is despite the fact that, according to the plan, two million Iranian citizens were supposed to receive the coronavirus vaccine before Nowruz this year.

Currently, in countries surrounding Iran, the UAE has administered more than eight million doses, Azerbaijan 510,000 doses, Qatar 740,000 doses, Kuwait 360,000 doses, and Oman 130,000 doses of the vaccine to their citizens. Pakistan has also administered 350,000 doses of the vaccine.

Hossein Kermanpour, the director general of public relations for the medical system, referred to the "missed opportunity of importing vaccines" and announced on Monday that "a few hundred thousand imported vaccines are not a significant amount compared to Iran's population of millions."

At the same time, Mahmoud Najafi Arab, head of the Health Economics Commission of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, also said that opportunities have been missed in importing vaccines.

Two weeks after Ali Khamenei announced a ban on purchasing vaccines produced in Britain and the United States, the Medical System Organization published a letter addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, emphasizing the "need to purchase the coronavirus vaccine with a scientific approach" and warning against "politicizing" in this regard.

Before Mr. Khamenei's statements about banning Western vaccine imports, Iranian officials had made contradictory statements about the country's plan to import vaccines.

On December 8, Abdolnaser Hemmati claimed that the purchase of foreign vaccines was hindered by "inhumane" US sanctions, while three days later, Nasser Riahi, head of the Iranian Pharmaceutical Importers Union, rejected the Central Bank governor's remarks and said that there was "no problem" in transferring foreign currency to import coronavirus vaccines and other pharmaceutical items from abroad to Iran.

He had clearly stated: "Today, we import the country's pharmaceutical needs in various ways, even from American and European pharmaceutical companies and Indian, Chinese, and Russian raw material manufacturers, and the same currency is transferred in all these transactions."

The resurgence of coronavirus in Iran and the slowdown in vaccination come at a time when the Civil Registration Organization has been refusing to publish death statistics in Iran for months.

Source: Radio Farda