![\"iran-kovobarkat-vaccine](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/iran-kovobarkat-vaccine-1.jpg\" "\\"iran-kovobarkat-vaccine-1\\"")
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Iran\u2019s Covid-19 death toll is rapidly rising. Many Iranian health experts warn about the upcoming sixth wave of the coronavirus and its high mortality rate. This crisis could have been prevented if Tehran had used an effective vaccination plan. Instead of procuring WHO-approved Covid-19 vaccines, the regime insisted on producing and using its COVIran Barekat vaccine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Reports from Iran indicate many people contracted Covid-19, experienced painful side effects, or died<\/a> after receiving the first dose of COVIran Barekat. Thus, the regime has been forced to stop using Barekat due to the public opinion\u2019s pressure.<\/p>\n Mohammad Reza Mahboubfar, a health expert, confirmed this fact in an article published on Wednesday by the state-run Hamdeli daily.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the new surge of the Covid-19 outbreak and the early arrival of its sixth wave in Iran, reports indicate the injection of Barekat vaccines has stopped, and the project has been silently dismantled,\u201d Mahboubfar wrote. He cited ‘some Barakat vaccine side effects and the lack of public trust in the vaccine’ as the reason for stopping this project.<\/p>\n While Barekat\u2019s efficiency was under scrutiny since its early production stages, the regime claimed it would produce 50 million doses of these vaccines by the first half of 2021, but it did not.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the eight-month delay in vaccination in the country was only due to the provision of safe vaccines for the people of the country, then why, unlike all vaccines in the world, after months of Barakat vaccine injection, a scientific article on Barakat vaccine results and documentation has not been published,\u201d Mahboubfar wrote in this regard.<\/p>\n On January 8, the Iranian regime\u2019s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, banned<\/a> WHO-approved vaccines manufactured in the U.S. and U.K. He banned these vaccines and said he had previously \u201cordered\u201d regime officials not to procure these vaccines. Thus, he debunked previous claims by regime officials that \u201csanctions\u201d prevent Tehran from procuring vaccines.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to the ban on valid foreign vaccines in the country and the self-imposed sanctions, Iran practically lost the opportunity to purchase all types of WHO-approved vaccines from COVAX,\u201d Mahboubfar wrote in this regard.<\/p>\n Before Khamenei publicly banned vaccines, regime officials, such as the former Central Bank Chief, Abdolnasser Hemmati, blamed U.S. sanctions for not importing the Covid-19 vaccines. On December 7, Hemmati claimed that U.S. sanctions were preventing Iran from procuring vaccines, using the COVAX payment facility that is jointly managed by Geneva-based Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the WHO.<\/p>\n Gavi immediately rejected<\/a> this claim. This organization\u2019s spokesperson said was no \u201clegal barrier\u201d to Iran purchasing vaccines through COVAX as the U.S. Treasury\u2019s Office on Foreign Assets Control had issued a license covering coronavirus vaccine procurement.<\/p>\n Even now, after it has become evident that the mullahs deliberately refused to procure vaccines, the regime officials continue to blame sanctions for not procuring enough vaccines and shortage of raw materials for producing vaccines.<\/p>\n Also read:<\/strong><\/p>\n Is Iran Unable To Purchase COVID-19 Vaccines?<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Why, Unlike Many Countries, Iran\u2019s COVID-19 Crisis Amplified?<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Khamenei Compares COVID-19 Crisis To Iran-Iraq War Calling It a Blessing<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt has been suggested that in addition to vaccines, the raw materials needed to produce vaccines in the country have been severely restricted due to sanctions. But humanitarian goods or the sale of food, agricultural products, medicine, and medical equipment and vaccines have not been subject to sanctions from the beginning. If Tehran had not banned credible vaccines, it could have procured vaccines through COVAX using its frozen assets<\/a>. It could have provided the vaccine required by the population and not to delay the vaccination for up to 8 months,\u201d Mahboubfar wrote in this regard.<\/p>\n The regime\u2019s new president, Ebrahim Raisi, also acknowledged recently that the regime \u201chas never faced financial problems to import of valid vaccines into the country,\u201d and \u201cIran can purchase foreign vaccines with the necessary resources it has.\u201d<\/p>\n Now one might ask why Khamenei banned vaccines and insisted on producing \u201cdomestic vaccines?\u201d<\/p>\n Iranian regime's MP says #Iran<\/a>'s domestic #coronavirus<\/a> vaccine will not resolve anythinghttps:\/\/t.co\/jbKipGhq5l<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/SCorxOMjy7<\/a><\/p>\n — People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 21, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n