Just 500,000 Doses of Russian Vaccine Coming to Iran

On February 2 reputable medical journal The Lancet gave its stamp of approval to the efficacy of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. Since then, the dispute in Iran over importing this vaccine has died down. But also since then, it has been reported that Iran only has 500,000 doses of Sputnik V on the way. This means up to 250,000 people in high-risk groups, including frontline medical personnel, can be vaccinated in Iran to begin with.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Saeed Namaki declared that contrary to expectations, “The AstraZeneca company has announced that it will start delivering 4.2 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to Iran in February through Covax vaccine distribution scheme.”

This was a startling development. In his statement Namaki did not refer to the Anglo-Swedish company’s British ties, and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has expressly forbidden imports of American and British-made vaccines to Iran. But Iran is a participant in the Covax scheme, co-led by the World Health Organization, that aims to secure fair access to vaccines for poorer countries, and Covax documents do appear to confirm that this agreement has been made.

Haggling over Vaccine Prices

Iran also intends to procure coronavirus vaccines from other countries including China, India and Cuba, announced Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, the head of the Food and Drug Administration. According to him, in the first phase Iran is to import just 500,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia, but overall “We have requested a few million doses and this request has not been rejected. The important point is the timing of the delivery. We want the delivery of the vaccines to start as soon as possible but the companies want us to give them more time.”

Shanehsaz said that the Russian vaccine’s efficacy was higher than 90 or even 95 percent, and that the known side effects were so far negligible. “I am sorry,” he said triumphantly, “that some of our colleagues who have no expertise in this field say things that I, as Deputy Health Minister, have to respond to, and this response might appear to be as government propaganda by an official. Whereas perhaps, it could have been completely unnecessary. The media should teach people not to make declarations when they lack the knowledge. Then I can try to provide people with vaccines, drugs and medical equipment instead of providing explanations.”

According to Shanehsaz, there is a direct relationship between the cost of vaccine shipments and when they are delivered, and the reason officials are reluctant to answer questions about vaccine imports at the moment is because they are engaged in “bargaining” over the prices.

“The later the vaccine is delivered, the lower the price,” he said. “If domestic production starts the price of imports would go down. Different factors such as quantity, delivery date, the diversity of sources and the logistics affect the vaccine price.”

Nighttime Curfew and Traffic Restrictions

According to a motion passed by the National Coronavirus Taskforce, coronavirus restrictions would be imposed based on the level of alert. This week the provinces of Isfahan, Fars, Mashhad, Bushehr, Khuzestan and Hormozgan and the islands of Kish and Qeshm are in a “blue” state of alert, the lowest alert level, but if the alert level in these areas rises to “yellow”, then traffic restrictions in and out of cities in these areas will be enforced.

The National Highway Police announced that in the three northern provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan and in some cities in other provinces that are on orange or yellow alert, “orange-level” traffic restrictions will be imposed, meaning that non-local vehicles cannot enter them and vehicles with local license plates cannot leave them. Also, in all cities on orange alert, a nighttime curfew on traffic between 9pm and 3am will be enforced. In cities on yellow or blue alert the decision to impose this curfew is left to the provincial government.

Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics

In her daily briefing for February 3, Health Ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the past 24 hours:

Provinces Round-up

According to Dr. Lari, currently 18 cities in Iran are in an orange state of alert, 124 cities are on yellow alert and 306 are blue, i.e., the lowest state of alert but not completely free of coronavirus. Currently two northern Iranian province of Gilan and Mazandaran are in an orange state of alert.

Mazandaran is one of Tehran residents’ favorite vacation destinations for residents of Tehran but today Colonel Alireza Ghadami, commander of Mazandaran Highway Police, announced that entering Mazandaran from other provinces has been banned. He said that this decision was in accordance with the National Coronavirus Taskforce’s guidelines and asked people to avoid traveling to this province.

With the hospitalization of 220 new Covid-19 patients in the past 24 hours the total number of people in treatment centers run by Mazandaran and Babol Universities of medical sciences has now reached 1,232. Currently 15 cities in Mazandaran are on orange alert: the highest number in Iran.

In Gilan, 83 new Covid-19 patients were hospitalized in the past 24 hours, reported Dr. Masoud Nowroozi, vice president of Gilan University of Medical Sciences. Currently 459 coronavirus patients are receiving inpatient treatment across the province, 100 of them in intensive care units.

In the past 24 hours, 129 new patients tested positive for Covid-19 in Qazvin and 27 of them were admitted to hospital, reported Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. Currently 206 Covid-19 patients are in hospitals across the province of whom 21 are connected to ventilators. And, with the death of two more Covid-19 patients, the official death toll in Qazvin now stands at 1,274.

Since the coronavirus outbreak 25,578 Covid-19 patients have been hospitalized in Kermanshah and 1,457 of them have died, reported Dr. Mohammad Reza Moradi, president of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. Currently, he said, 145 Covid-19 patients are hospitalized in Kermanshah, 41 of them in ICUs.

In Alborz, 31 new patients with coronavirus symptoms were hospitalized in the past 24 hours, bringing the current number of hospitalizations in the province to 252, reported Dr. Mohammad Fathi, president of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. With the death of another Covid-19 patient, he said, the death toll in the province has now reached 2,676.