{"id":233082,"date":"2021-01-13T09:56:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T14:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=233082"},"modified":"2023-02-01T05:24:51","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T04:24:51","slug":"iran-regimes-rejection-of-foreign-vaccines-proves-earlier-appeals-were-deceptive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/human-rights\/iran-regimes-rejection-of-foreign-vaccines-proves-earlier-appeals-were-deceptive\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Regime\u2019s Rejection of Foreign Vaccines Proves Earlier Appeals Were Deceptive"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"khamenei-bans-import-of-vaccine\"<\/p>\n

Last week, Iranian regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei made a shocking but not unexpected announcement<\/a>. As the regime\u2019s ultimate authority, he said that Iranian medical facilities would not be permitted to import coronavirus vaccines that were manufactured in the United States or Britain.<\/p>\n

The announcement led to the cancellation of an arrangement that had already been established between the Iranian Red Crescent and unnamed American philanthropists. Had Khamenei not interfered, 150,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine would most likely be en route to Iran right now. There is no plan for how to compensate for this loss. The Iranian Health Ministry claims to be overseeing development of a domestic alternative, which Iran\u2019s pharmacists called<\/a> a \u201cjoke\u201d, especially compared with existing vaccines that are over 95 percent effective.<\/p>\n

The Red Crescent\u2019s loss threatens to be devastating not only for the 150,000 Iranians who might have received the vaccine but also for the countless others whom those recipients are sure to come in contact with while Iranian society struggles to continue functioning normally in the midst of the single worst coronavirus pandemic in the Middle East. Ordinary citizens have received no support from the regime, which has refused to seriously enforce lockdowns for a people who are overwhelmingly struggling to make ends meet. Consequently, Iranians have no option but to go to their jobs or seek new ones while being as careful as they can manage.<\/p>\n

But conscientious behavior by the public is not especially effective when the regime won\u2019t even be transparent about the extent to which the infection has penetrated every community and affected every demographic. According to the regime\u2019s statistics, there are over one million total cases of Covid-19 in the country of about 82 million, with more than 56,000 fatalities so far. But the true figures are much higher in both cases \u2013 about four times higher in the case of fatalities.<\/p>\n

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COVID-19 Claims 200,000 Victims in Iran<\/div><\/div>
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