Iran to Receive 150,000 Doses of Pfizer Vaccine from “US Philanthropists”

On Monday, December 29, Karim Hemmati, head of the Iranian Red Crescent society, announced that action have been taken to procure “one million doses of coronavirus vaccine from China” and “150,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine” from what he termed “US philanthropists”.

Hemmati did not identify the donors but claimed the transfer of these 150,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine to Iran was both “definite” and in progress. While the news is welcome, the Pfizer vaccine requires two doses to be effective and so this effort by itself will mean only 75,000 Iranians could be inoculated, out of a population of more than 80 million.

Hemmati also warned that storing and transferring the Pfizer vaccine is “difficult” because it must be kept in a temperature of -70 degrees. The health ministry, he said, will be responsible for distribution.

In late summer Karim Hemmati had repeatedly told the media that Iran was in the process of procuring more than 16 million doses of flu vaccine to prepare for the cold season, but this promise was never fulfilled.

Worries about Upcoming Ceremonies

With the approach of Fatimiyya, when Muslims and especially Shias mourn the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammad’s youngest daughter Fatimah al-Zahra, and also the anniversary of the assassination of IRCG Quds Force commander General Ghasem Soleimani on January 3, there are worries that the ceremonies will be held that could compromise the effectiveness of regulations by the National Coronavirus Taskforce.

Some religious authorities have announced that Fatimiyya events must go ahead, while complying with health protocols. Government officials, meanwhile, have said any ceremonies should be held virtually. Most recently Anooshirvan Mohseni Bandpey, the governor of Tehran, announced that no ceremony will be allowed in his province. He said that although the number of Covid-19 hospital admissions and fatalities in Tehran has been falling, the situation is still fragile and precautions must remain in place.

Provinces Round-up

The “Ghasem Soleimani Neighborhood Coronavirus Control Operation” was the name of a campaign launched by the Iranian government in November with the cooperation of the paramilitary Basij, the Red Crescent and other agencies and NGOs in an attempt to manage the pandemic at neighborhood levels, including screening citizens to identify possible Covid-19 cases and enforcing home quarantine.

On Monday, December 28, Dr. Abtin Heydarzadeh, vice president of Gilan University of Medical Sciences, reported that through this operation 6,000 “confirmed cases” had so far been identified. In the meantime,  he said, the daily number of new daily recorded Covid-19 cases in Gilan has fallen below 100 and, with 90 new hospital admissions, the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals in Gilan now stands at below 500.

Pointing out that during the cold season the number of family gatherings in Gilan typically increase, Dr. Heydarzadeh warned: “I ask everybody to stay away from family get-togethers and not to assume that the situation is normal.”

The neighboring province of Mazandaran that has more cities in an orange state of alert than any other province in Iran. In the past 24 hours, 210 new suspected coronavirus cases were hospitalized in Mazandaran while 170 patients were discharged, reported Dr. Abbas Mousavi, president of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences.

Currently 993 suspected and confirmed Covid-19 cases are hospitalized in treatment centers run by this university, 205 of whom are in intensive care units. This is in addition to 190 Covid-19 patients being treated at hospitals run by Babol University of Medical Sciences, also in Mazandaran. In other words, currently a total 1,183 suspected and confirmed Covid-19 patients are in hospital in this province.

In Kurdistan 158 Covid-19 patients are currently in hospital across the province, 49 of whom are in ICUs. In the past 24 hours, 59 new patients were hospitalized and four patients died, bringing the officially-recorded number of Covid-19 fatalities in Kurdistan to 1,030 since the coronavirus outbreak.

In Kermanshah, another Kurdish-majority province, 37 new coronavirus patients were admitted to hospital and one confirmed Covid-19 patient was reported to have died in 24 hours. Currently 186 suspected or confirmed cases are hospitalized across the province and the official death toll from the virus stands at 1,423.

Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics

In her daily briefing for December 28, health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the past 24 hours:

Dr. Lari reported that currently no Iranian city is on red alert, 108 cities are in an orange state of alert and 340 are rated yellow.