Corona in Iran; Death toll spikes, shortage of oxygen machines

655 deaths in one day. A new record, in line with the announcement by the head of the Food and Drug Administration that the Pfizer vaccine will be imported and the use of Remdesivir will increase tenfold. However, a member of the National Vaccine Committee stressed that the main need of patients is oxygen, not medicine.

359 cities in Iran are in red, 59 in orange, and 30 in yellow. This is the latest data from the Ministry of Health, along with the highest number of deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic; 655 people have died in a single day.

At the same time, they said that the daily vaccination record has also been broken, with 699,000 people vaccinated in one day. The ministry's public relations department says that so far, 15,454,351 people have received the first dose of the vaccine and 4,381,288 people have received the second dose of the vaccine.

Dr. Mohammad Reza Shanesaz, head of the Food and Drug Administration of Iran, announced the issuance of a license to import the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines from “authorized sources” and said: “The name of a vaccine does not cause restrictions on imports. Rather, it is a trusted and trustworthy source that is considered by the Ministry of Health.”

In explaining, he cited authorized sources from Pfizer's public relations department that the vaccine will only be delivered to governments and that the private sector will not interfere in its purchase and sale.

The Young Journalists Club quoted Shamesaz as saying: "When we stop imports, it comes across to some people and these people spend money to spread false news against the Minister of Health. We had a fifth wave of Corona between the two governments and many people got involved and the consumption of Remdesivir increased 10 times within 72 hours. The consumption of serum also increased accordingly and the manufacturers were unable to fulfill their commitment."

He also emphasized that the remdesivir drugs were imported from an unapproved source without authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, which requires investigation, but the stock of this drug, which is domestically produced, is sufficient for three months.

Ineffectiveness or low effectiveness of Remdesivir

A member of the "National Coronavirus Vaccine Committee" has stated, based on a global study in 405 hospitals, that Remdesivir and Favipiravir have no or little effect in treating coronavirus.

Dr. Mostafa Ghanei, head of the Respiratory Diseases Research Network, cited scientific articles in the prestigious journal "Nature" and said that favipiravir or hydroxychloroquine have no effect on reducing the mortality rate of coronavirus patients and even lead to complications such as worsening liver and kidney function.

In a television program, he emphasized that patients die from lung swelling and inflammation and decreased oxygen, and advised Ministry of Health officials to spend the money on the aforementioned drugs to purchase oxygen machines.

According to Ghanei, five trillion tomans have been spent so far to procure Remdesivir, which would have been better allocated to provide oxygen, anticoagulants, and intensive care beds, as well as to pay the salaries of medical staff.

The lack of oxygen, the slow pace of vaccination, and the increase in deaths and infections have led a number of citizens to launch campaigns called "Oxygen of Kindness" to collect cash donations and provide oxygen machines. An effort that can never compensate for the huge needs of hospitals and the negligence of government officials.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Ministry of Health has announced that some provinces are passing the fifth peak of the coronavirus. The ministry's announcement states: "It seems that the trend of hospitalizations in Isfahan, Bushehr, Tehran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Semnan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Fars, Qom, Kerman, Golestan, Mazandaran, Hormozgan, Hamedan and Yazd has decreased in the past week compared to the previous week."

Sistan and Baluchestan province has also been deemed certain to pass the fifth peak. The total number of deaths from coronavirus in Iran is officially stated at 98,483, but independent research shows that the real figure is at least twice the government data.

In his latest speech, the Leader of the Islamic Republic called the coronavirus the country's number one issue and called for the supply of vaccines by any means, whether domestically produced or imported. He, who banned the import of American and British vaccines in January 2020, claimed that before the domestic vaccine was produced, foreign sellers were "disrespectful" despite paying the price of the vaccine. Many citizens and social media users have held Khamenei directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: DW