Fears over a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections in Iran and hopes over vaccine access dominated Iran’s pandemic news today. Iran has approved Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and plans to both import and produce it, announced Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow on January 26.
“The Sputnik V vaccine was yesterday registered and approved by our health authorities,” said Zarif. “In the near future, we hope to be able to purchase it, as well as start joint production.” Earlier Iran had said that it would wait for the World Health Organization’s approval of Russia’s vaccine before buying it. Russia registered the vaccine – named after the Soviet-era satellite – in August last year, before the start of large-scale clinical trials, leaving some experts wary.
Sputnik V’s developers have since claimed the vaccine is more than 90 percent effective and several countries outside of Russia have begun administering it, including Argentina. Russia last week filed for registration of Sputnik V in the European Union, while EU member-state Hungary broke ranks and purchased two million doses of the vaccine before the bloc had approved it.
The Domestic Vaccine
On the domestic front, Mohammad Mokhber, president of the Executive Headquarters of the Imam's Directive – an organization directly controlled by the Supreme Leader – said that Barekat-CovIran vaccine, which is being developed by this organization, will enter phase 2 of clinical human trials in a few weeks, after all 56 volunteers have been injected with the vaccine.
Mokhber said that, by May 20, around two or three million doses of the vaccine would be available to begin inoculations. But government spokesman Ali Rabiei said the vaccine would be ready by the end of the spring or the beginning of the summer. He also said the vaccination of high-risk groups – using imported vaccines – would start in mid-February.
Not a Completely “Swedish” Vaccine
Yesterday Dr. Minoo Mohraz, a member of the National Coronavirus Taskforce’s Scientific Committee, which is also responsible for the evaluation of domestic vaccines under development, confirmed that Iran would soon import a “recombinant” vaccine made in Sweden. Today Ghasem Jan-Babaei, deputy ealth minister, said that this “Swedish vaccine” is the same as Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine, jointly developed by the Oxford University and AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge. He Jan-Babaei said he could not provide any information about how many doses have been purchased or when the vaccine would arrive in Iran. It also remains be seen how the Iranian government will justify buying this vaccine after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s ban on American and British vaccines.
Attacks against the Coronavirus Taskforce Spokesman Continue
Last week Alireza Raeesi, spokesman for the National Coronavirus Taskforce, came under extensive attacks by the clergy after he criticized religious gatherings and ceremonies for not following health guidelines. They called for his dismissal and some even called for Raeesi to be put on trial. He subsequently apologized and said that he had been “misunderstood,” but attacks on him by the clergy in Qom, the center of Iranian Shia seminaries, still continue.
In a radio interview on January 26, Raeesi added that he had no knowledge whether any legal complaint against him had been filed. But he said that, if he is summoned by the court, he would obey the law, go to court and answer questions.
Provinces Round-up
In recent days the number of people with Covid-19 symptoms who have visited hospitals in Tehran has been rising and, according to the latest figures, around 2,000 suspected and confirmed coronavirus cases are hospitalized in the nation’s capital. An area of concern is the increase in the number of people who were traveling during recent holidays and long weekends.
“Previous holidays have shown that, if proper precautions are not taken, travelers can spread the coronavirus,” said Dr. Payam Tabarsi, president of the contagious diseases ward at Tehran’s Masih Daneshvari Hospital. “Until two weeks ago there were some empty hospital beds, but now all wards are filled and we are admitting as many patients as we are releasing, and this is not good news.”
Dr. Tabarsi criticized the reopening of reception halls and said the it would contribute to the spread of the virus. He warned that vaccination might actually result in another surge of the pandemic unless the transmission chain of the virus is severed because a mutation of the virus may resist the vaccine and that “this fear is shared by doctors in various American and European countries.”
In Hormozgan, two villages west of the Persian Gulf port city of Bandar Lengeh have been completely quarantined for a full week following and increase in the number Covid-19 patients, reported Dr. Hossein Farshidi, president of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences. He blamed the increase on a number of public ceremonies held in these villages and the failure to follow health guidelines, especially among fishermen who came into contact with many other people during the day.
With the death of two more Covid-19 patients in Alborz, the death toll in the province since the pandemic started reached 2,651, reported Dr. Mohammad Fathi, president of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. He also reported that 32 new patients suspected of coronavirus infection were hospitalized in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of hospitalizations in the province to 227.
Yazd is in a similar situation. In the past 24 hours one more Covid-19 patient died and 30 new patients with coronavirus symptoms were hospitalized, bringing the total number of hospitalizations in the province to 152, reported Dr. Ebrahim Soleimani, spokesman for Yazd University of Medical Sciences. Forty-eight of these are in intensive care units.
The situation in the northern province of Mazandaran is still the worst in the country. With the hospitalization of 268 new Covid-19 patients, the total number of coronavirus hospitalizations in treatment centers run by the Mazandaran and Babol universities of medical sciences reached 1,305 people. Most Iranian cities in a state of orange alert are located in Mazandaran, followed by the two other northern provinces of Gilan and Golestan.
In Fars, with the death of four more Covid-19 patients, the death toll in the province has reached 3,120, announced Dr. Orang Ilami, vice president of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Currently 380 suspected and confirmed cases of Covid-19 are hospitalized in Fars, 104 of them at ICUs. Like other health officials in the country, Dr. Ilami advised people to avoid traveling and not to participate in gatherings or family get-togethers.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for January 26, health ministry’s spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the past 24 hours:
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