Verbal conflict between Islamic Republic officials on the sidelines of the Corona "killing ground"

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Health calls Iran's coronavirus situation "dark red and black," and Saeed Namaki speaks of the coronavirus as a "killing ground." However, the debate and mutual accusations between officials who each have responsibility in this field continue.

In the fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Iran, record numbers of infections and deaths continue to be set, there are almost no empty beds in any hospital, and the shortage of equipment has reached the point of rationing serum and distilled water, but officials are mostly busy justifying their actions, covering up shortcomings, and blaming others.

In a speech in Mashhad, the 12th government's health minister, the text of which was published by Tasnim News Agency on Thursday, August 12, praised the ministry's actions and claimed: "If we had not set up temporary outpatient and inpatient clinics, there is no doubt that we would have lacked about 200,000 hospital beds."

Saeed Namaki, who once said that other countries were amazed at Iran's handling of the coronavirus, now speaks of "health defenders being crushed under the wheels."

Vaccine shortage and coronavirus slaughterhouse

The Islamic Republic's health minister once promised that Iran would become a major exporter of the coronavirus vaccine by May. He later promised to vaccinate 14 million people by July. In his speech in Mashhad, Namaki said, justifying the delay in providing the vaccine: "Those who claimed to be friends with us abandoned us in the middle of a slaughterhouse."

Vaccination to prevent COVID-19 in Iran began on February 11 with a limited number of the Russian "Sputnik V" vaccine and continued with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.

Officials and agents of the Islamic Republic cite "unfriendly allies," meaning China and Russia, and US sanctions as the main reasons for the failure to fulfill promises to provide the vaccines needed by citizens.

Another main reason for the slow vaccination process in Iran, which continued until the beginning of August, could be the remarks made by the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, on January 9th about banning the import of "American and British vaccines."

Khamenei's order banning the import of certain vaccines

Kianoush Jahanpour, spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health, denied the ban in a Twitter message and claimed that the ban includes vaccines produced in the UK and the US.

Contrary to this claim, in his speech, the video of which was also published on Jahanpour's Twitter page, Khamenei explicitly questioned the effectiveness of vaccines produced by American and British companies and banned their import.

Khamenei, who apparently realized the catastrophic consequences of his decree, recently said that Corona is the country's "number one issue" and that the vaccine needed by the people must be provided "in any way possible."

The dispute between health officials and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

There has recently been a fierce debate between health officials and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the delay in providing the vaccines needed by citizens.

Alireza Zali, head of the headquarters to combat the coronavirus in the metropolitan city of Tehran, accused the Islamic Republic's ambassadors in various countries of not seeking to procure a vaccine, saying: "The cost of coronavirus drugs has increased several times the cost of importing the vaccine, but they did not allow the purchase of the vaccine because they thought it was expensive."

On August 11, the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) reported on the slow vaccination process in Iran, citing Zali as saying: "We only have vaccine reserves for five days and we cannot increase the speed. If there were more vaccines, we would double the number of centers."

Zali's remarks have been met with a sharp reaction from Mohammad Javad Zarif and some other senior officials at the Foreign Ministry. Zarif, without naming a specific institution, asked: "Which agency rejected the proforma for the import of 20 million vaccines from Europe?"

Zarif's reaction to Zali's remarks

The 12th government's foreign minister described the arrival of the vaccine in Iran as the result of the ministry's efforts and wrote on his Instagram page: "Which agency has arranged to purchase and donate more than 24 million foreign vaccines to date and negotiated and finalized the massive and continuous import in the coming weeks?"

Since the beginning of August, with the arrival of millions of doses of donated vaccines from Japan and some of the purchased vaccines, the vaccination process in Iran has accelerated compared to previous months.

According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health, as of Thursday, a total of slightly more than 17.76 million doses of vaccine have been administered in Iran, but the number of citizens who have been fully vaccinated is no more than about three and a half million.

If Alireza Zali's statement yesterday about the existing vaccines being sufficient for five days is true and no new vaccines are imported, there is a possibility that the vaccination process will slow down again.

Dark red and black coronavirus situation

Speaking in Mashhad, Saeed Namaki expressed optimism that the process of importing vaccines would be “accelerated and facilitated” and that 120 million doses of the vaccine would arrive in Iran by November. He did not mention the origin of the vaccines.

The Ministry of Health's Information Center announced on Thursday that slightly more than 39,000 new cases of coronavirus have been identified in the past 24 hours and 568 people infected with COVID-19 have lost their lives.

According to official statistics, the number of victims of COVID-19 in Iran has so far been 96,124. Experts and even some members of the Scientific Committee of the Coronavirus Response Headquarters say that the actual number of coronavirus deaths is at least two and a half times higher than the official figure.

The Ministry of Health says that currently 336 cities in the country are in red status, 84 cities are in orange status, and 28 cities are in yellow status.

Sima Sadat Lari, a spokeswoman for the ministry, said on Tuesday: "The hospitalization indicators are such that we can say the situation is dark red or black."

In the past 24 hours, nearly 500 patients with coronavirus have been hospitalized, and the number of patients in intensive care units has exceeded 7,000.

The unprecedented increase in hospitalizations in recent days has presented medical centers and hospitals with serious challenges. The highest number of hospitalizations at the peak of the fourth wave of the pandemic was on April 20, with 3,901 cases.

Source: DW