Corona in Iran; The spread of the fifth wave and lack of planning in vaccination
Iranian media is reporting the dire situation of citizens in the fifth peak of the coronavirus. According to reports, the trend of hospitalizations and deaths from the disease is increasing. A small percentage of the Iranian population has been vaccinated, and some vaccines have not provided sufficient immunity.
The number of coronavirus cases in Iran has been rising rapidly. In the past 24 hours, 25,441 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the country, and 213 people have died. Alireza Zali, commander of Tehran's coronavirus management operations, has told the government that if vaccination is not carried out on time, further surges of the virus will occur.
According to official statistics, the total death toll from the disease in Iran has reached 87,374. The report by the Corona Response Headquarters has assessed the situation in 169 cities as red, 166 cities as orange, and 113 cities as yellow.
The fifth wave of COVID-19 has also affected children. Gholamreza Khademi, head of the pediatric intensive care unit at Akbar Hospital in Mashhad, told ISNA news agency that the increase in children infected with COVID-19 has raised concerns about the shortage of ICUs and hospital beds.
According to this doctor, the age of infection with coronavirus has dropped significantly, as "in previous periods, adolescents and children aged 9 to 11 were affected, but now children of young ages and even infants are being hospitalized."
Not using foreign vaccines was a government policy.
The Iranian government, led by the Leader of the Islamic Republic, has been heavily criticized for its opposition to timely and sufficient import of reputable vaccines such as Biontech/Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca, which directly contributes to the increasing number of coronavirus victims in Iran.
This is in addition to the policies that led to the spread of the coronavirus in Iran and the deaths of thousands of people in the past two years; such as concealing the disease in the initial weeks of its arrival in Iran, holding parliamentary elections, not preventing flights between China and Iran, failing to control and establish effective quarantine, failing to prevent religious ceremonies, etc.
Now, Kianoush Jahanpour, the director general of public relations at the Ministry of Health, says: "The policy of not using coronavirus vaccines before their approval and during the clinical trial stages was a government policy that all upstream institutions agreed on, and of course the Ministry of Health also agreed with it."
He added in a roundtable discussion at IRNA news agency on Monday, July 19. "If we were using foreign vaccines in clinical trials for people in Iran, the same people who are critical of this issue today would criticize why you used foreign vaccines before final approval?"
In this roundtable, Jahanpour takes the responsibility for not delivering reliable vaccines off the shoulders of the Ministry of Health, saying: "The Ministry of Health is not responsible for importing the coronavirus vaccine. Rather, it is the one approving the vaccine, and the diplomatic service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs bear the main responsibility for imports."
He also says about the reason for the halt and slowdown in the corona vaccination in recent weeks: "With the cooperation of the diplomatic service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Central Bank, the Planning and Budget Organization, and the Ministry of Health, after a several-week hiatus in the delivery of foreign vaccines, last week we witnessed the gradual delivery of foreign vaccines."
According to Jahanpour, Iran has received about 2.2 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine from the COVAX quota and about 920,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik vaccine from the country's Gamaliye Institute. The majority of shipments imported into Iran are Chinese Sinopharm vaccines, and the majority of vaccinations in Iran are carried out with this vaccine.
Alireza Zali, commander of the coronavirus disease management operations in Tehran, expressed dissatisfaction with the vaccination situation in the country and said: "Vaccine imports should be a concern and issue on the table of all officials in the country. Vaccination is one of the most accessible, fastest, and relatively most effective methods of preventing COVID-19."
Unlike some officials who falsely fuel the illusion that widespread vaccination in countries like Israel and the United States has been useless, he says that the relative effectiveness of vaccination against the coronavirus has been proven globally and "can play an effective role in reducing mortality." He emphasizes that Iran's problem is that "vaccination has not been carried out in proportion to the country's population."
According to him, 1.4 million people in Tehran province have received the vaccine so far, of which only 480,000 have received the second dose. This is a very low figure for Tehran province's population of 14.8 million.
The production line that Sputnik gave to Iran is useless.
Alireza Raisi, spokesman for the National Headquarters for Combating Corona, said in the Club House about the Corona vaccination that "Sputnik has given Iran a production line that is not useful to us." Regarding the contract with Russia for 60 million doses of Sputnik, he said: "We have known for a long time that it produces 5 million doses per month. It has given various lines to other countries under its license. It has also given us a line that is not useful to us."
He added that although the jointly produced Sputnik vaccines are being manufactured in Iran and "Iran is a priority recipient of these vaccines, it is not certain that these vaccines will be available to Iran and we have not counted on it."
Increase in casualties among nurses
Hamshahri Online wrote in its report on Monday, July 18, that with each wave, the number of visits to hospitals increases several times, and the burden of pressure falls mainly on nurses, who are bearing the "greatest pressure" and "have had many victims in the past 18 months."
According to statistics from the Deputy Director of Nursing at the Ministry of Health, 110 nurses in Iran have died from coronavirus so far and 70,000 people have been infected.
The same report says, "The exact number of deaths and infections among doctors is not available. However, the Medical System Organization has previously announced the number of deaths at 300, taking into account all nursing and medical groups."
Vaccination of medical staff in Iran began in the last week of February last year with the arrival of the first shipment of Russian vaccine. However, Hamshahri reports that “nearly 6 months have passed since then, but a group of medical staff have still not received the vaccine.” Some have not received the second dose, some have not even received the first dose, and new cases of infection have been seen among those who have been vaccinated. About 10 percent of medical staff have not been vaccinated at all.
According to Hossein Kermanpour, Public Relations Director of the Medical System Organization, "A number of medical personnel have still been infected with the coronavirus despite receiving both doses of the vaccine, and these individuals had usually been injected with the Sinopharm vaccine."
Tehran and Al-Bazar provinces go into quarantine
On July 19, ISNA News Agency announced the request of the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education for the "simultaneous closure of Tehran and Alborz provinces," detailing the integrated closure of all government agencies, banks, and high-risk groups of guilds and businesses in Tehran and Alborz provinces and other cities.
Among them is the restriction on movement from 6:00 PM today until 7:00 AM on Monday, August 24. These restrictions include a ban on the exit of private cars with license plates from Tehran and Alborz provinces and the entry of private cars with license plates from other cities into Tehran and Alborz. Also, the travel of citizens between cities with a red coronavirus status throughout Iran is absolutely prohibited.
According to the news, the Central Bank of Iran is notifying all banks operating in the provinces of Alborz and Tehran to maximize non-face-to-face banking services and "take action to close all bank branches in these two provinces within the announced timeframe."
Restrictions are also being implemented on trades and businesses under the title of "Intensifying Restrictions in Red Cities," which includes the closure of restaurants and coffee shops, banquet halls, cinemas and theaters, arcades and indoor markets, indoor swimming pools and fitness clubs, amusement parks and zoos, and exhibitions.
Source: DW
