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Special Features

Rouhani Gives Green Light to Purchase of Covid-19 Vaccine

December 10, 2020
Pouyan Khoshhal
5 min read
Adverts have appeared inviting Iranians to pay upwards of 12 million tomans – over US$2,900 – to travel to foreign countries such as Turkey or the United Arab Emirates to receive the vaccine
Adverts have appeared inviting Iranians to pay upwards of 12 million tomans – over US$2,900 – to travel to foreign countries such as Turkey or the United Arab Emirates to receive the vaccine
First Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi warned people against falling for “fake” advertisements as President Rouhani announced the government had agreed to buy the vaccine
First Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi warned people against falling for “fake” advertisements as President Rouhani announced the government had agreed to buy the vaccine

The United Kingdom began rolling out coronavirus vaccinations this week and other countries are getting ready to follow suit. Reports about importing or developing Covid-19 vaccines have dominated the news in Iran ever since. On December 9, President Rouhani announced: “Yesterday we decided to buy [one of] the vaccine [s] and last night I issued the order to do so. We will start with the vaccination of high-risk groups.”

In the past week various Iranian officials had repeatedly said that sanctions were making it difficult for Iran to buy the vaccine from other countries because of a block on banking transactions. They said they had faced the same problem in the summer trying to procure flu vaccines. “Acquiring a coronavirus vaccine has been made difficult by unjust American pressure and the difficulties in transferring money,” health minister Saeed Namaki said. “Fortunately, these difficulties are being resolved and we will be able to import the vaccine for high-risk groups.”

But Hossein Ali Shahriari, chairman of the parliamentary health committee, does not share Namaki’s optimism. According to him, Iran lacks the finances to buy the coronavirus vaccine. Iran, he said, “has not yet been able to spend so much as a dollar to buy to buy the vaccine and the fate of importing this vaccine might well be the same as it was for the flu vaccine.”

Shahriari pointed out that Iran was supposed to join COVAX — a global initiative by the World Health Organization aimed at working with manufacturers to provide countries worldwide equitable access to a safe and effective vaccine — provided it could pay for it. “If Iran can pay $52 million,” he said, “it will get 16.8 million doses of coronavirus vaccine. But we checked and, as of today, not one dollar has not been paid.”

In the meantime, however, Sajjad Razavi, chairman of the Health Insurance Supreme Council’s secretariat, reported that the price of domestically-manufactured coronavirus test kits has been lowered to 183 thousand toman, or close to US$45. He said the whole process of testing will now cost 238,425 tomans ($58) per person at government facilities and 301,709 tomans ($74) at private sector testing and treatment centers.

 

Officials Rubbish Coronavirus Tourism Ads Targeting Iranians

In addition, strange advertisements have started to appear on social media inviting Iranians to pay upwards of 12 million tomans – over US$2,900 – to travel to foreign countries such as Turkey or the United Arab Emirates to receive the vaccine.

Turkey has indeed announced that it will soon start offering coronavirus vaccinations. But Iranian officials warn that these particular ads are a hoax. “These adverts cannot come from a [legitimate] travel agency,” said Hermatollah Rafiei, president of the Association of Travel and Tourism Services Agencies. “Turkey has yet to acquire enough coronavirus vaccines for all of its own citizens. How can it have enough for foreign travelers too?” First Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi also warned people against falling for these “fake” ads, as has Kianoush Jahanpour, director of health ministry’s public relations, who said: “There are no such tours and, as usual, this is a ploy by swindlers to exploit people.”

 

 

Provinces Round-up

In the past 24 hours in Qom 38 new Covid-19 patients were reportedly hospitalized and 34 patients were released from hospital, according to Dr. Mohammad Reza Ghadir, president of Qom University of Medical Sciences. Currently around 280 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in Qom, 60 of them in ICUs.

Kermanshah is once again in a critical situation that Iranian media have now referred to as a “coronavirus vortex”. According to Dr. Mehdi Mohammadi, spokesman for Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, in the past 24 hours 100 new patients with coronavirus symptoms were hospitalized in the province and 95 were released from hospital. “In recent days the number of patients who were admitted to the hospitals was usually lower than those who were released but now the number of hospitalizations is higher once again.” With the death of eight more Covid-19 patients, the death toll in Kermanshah now stands at 1,336. According to Dr. Mohammadi, currently 477 coronavirus patients are hospitalized across the province, 126 of whom are in ICUs. Of these 40 people are on ventilators.

In Alborz in the past 24 hours 18 coronavirus patients died, the same number as the day before, bringing the province’s death toll to 2,409. Currently 667 suspected and confirmed Covid-19 patients are hospitalized across the province.

In Ardebil 65 new Covid-19 patients were hospitalized over the past 24 hours. During the same time period 74 patients recovered and were dischargeds. Currently 455 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in the province, 83 in ICUs. Three cities in Ardebil are now in a red state of alert and the rest are orange.

In Lorestan, the number of new infections and fatalities has been stable but coronavirus tests performed in this province have indicated the potentially vast extent of infections in Lorestan. Of all tests performed, 57,595 cases have been positive and 89,615 have been negative. The official death toll in the province now stands at 1,208.

In the past 24 hours 118 new Covid-19 patients were identified in Kurdistan, reported Dr. Farzin Rezaei, president of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences. Currently 333 coronavirus patients are hospitalized across the province, 92 of them in ICUs. According to Dr. Rezaei, with the death of another five patients in the last 24 hours, the death toll in the province now stands at 982. This, of course, is the official number and includes only those who had tested positive.

Dr. Farhad Abolnejadian, president of Ahvaz Jondishapur University of Medical Science, reported that the number of hospitalizations and outpatients in Khuzestan province has been falling.

 

Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics

In her daily briefing for December 9, health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the past 24 hours:

Rouhani Gives Green Light to Purchase of Covid-19 Vaccine

Dr. Lari reported that currently 64 cities are rated red, 278 are orange and 106 are yellow.

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