A member of Iran’s COVID-19 Taskforce criticized the regime’s decision to import Russian vaccines and said it was “unfortunate” for the people of Iran.
This came after Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on January 25 that the country hoped to begin purchases of the Gam-COVID-Vac, trade-named Sputnik V, and start joint production of the shot “in the near future”.
However, Iran’s Ministry of Health has yet to react to the news.
“I am not satisfied with this decision,” Minoo Mohraz told the state-run Jahan-e San’at Daily today.
“As a healthcare worker, I will not be injecting this vaccine because no data has been published about it,” she added.
Mohraz said Sputnik V has yet to be confirmed as safe by an international body including the World Health Organization and the EU’s Food and Drug Organization.
Gamaleya, the company that produces the vaccine, has claimed that Sputnik V has an efficacy rate of 91.4 percent, but has not yet published a scientific paper with the full details of the trial.
“In the past few days, we thought that the vaccine that was to be imported was the AstraZeneca vaccine which has been authorized for use by the WHO,” Mohraz said.
Since the ban of US and UK made vaccines by the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Iran health officials refer to the AstraZeneca vaccine as a “Swedish” vaccine.
According to unofficial figures announced by an Iranian opposition group, over 200,000 people have passed away in the country from COVID-19. Iran’s Health Ministry has put fatalities at 57,736 but many health officials have noted that the real death toll is much higher.
Iran has yet to start widespread vaccinations. Iranians took to social media to demand safe vaccines after Khamenei’s vaccine ban. Public walls have also been used to demand vaccines in various parts of Iran including in Hamedan, northwestern Iran.
“Khamenei, safe vaccines are our inalienable right,” the wall graffiti said.
