Health Deputy of Rouhani's Government: We Announced COVID-19 Late Because We Had No Tests

Alireza Raeisi, the health deputy of Hassan Rouhani's government, stated in an interview with the 'Khabar Online' website about the delay in announcing the arrival of the coronavirus in Iran and obstacles in vaccine imports, saying that the reason for the delayed announcement was 'lack of testing.' He added that the announcement of the virus's arrival in Iran was 'one day' after the first test arrived in the country. Previously, the head of the Passive Defense Organization acknowledged that the arrival of COVID-19 in Iran was announced late, stating, 'We discovered COVID-19 when we had several fatalities.' Gholamreza Jalali added that this indicated 'our health monitoring system is on leave.' He also mentioned that they had informed Saeed Namaki, the then Minister of Health, to quarantine Qom, but he responded that 'quarantine is for 700 years ago.' Alireza Raeisi also believes that quarantining Qom or Gilan would not have had an effect since the virus could have spread to other areas. Regarding the lack of accurate mortality statistics from COVID-19, he stated that there was no 'structure' in this regard. The health deputy of Rouhani's government discussed the several-month delay in COVID-19 vaccinations in Iran, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands, saying, 'We neither participated in clinical trials nor produced ourselves.' At that time, Islamic Republic officials argued that people were not 'guinea pigs,' unlike other countries such as the UAE, which participated in clinical trials. Nevertheless, the domestic vaccine 'Barakat' was the first vaccine to receive emergency use authorization in Iran, and its early approval was criticized by some doctors and specialists. Iran also faced challenges in importing COVID-19 vaccines from Russia and China. Alireza Raeisi pointed out that Russia failed to deliver vaccines to Iran as promised and claimed that the UN vaccine fund also 'defaulted.' He stated that the COVAX program was supposed to provide 20% of Iran's vaccine needs by the end of Esfand 1399 (March 2021), but this did not happen. According to COVAX program rules, 'financially self-sufficient' countries like Iran could request enough vaccines to immunize between 10% to 50% of their population, and the amount paid to COVAX reflected the number of doses requested. In Khordad 1401 (June 2022), a spokesperson for the 'Gavi' organization, responsible for vaccine distribution, told VOA that from mid-Farvardin 1400 (April 2021) to 1401, Iran received at least one vaccine shipment each month. Bahram Einollahi, the Minister of Health, also claimed that during the peak of COVID-19 when Iran had few vaccines, the COVAX program sent 'neither Iran's financial resources' nor vaccines. Alireza Raeisi, in another part of his interview with 'Khabar Online,' referred to a session in the Health and Treatment Commission of the Parliament where vaccine manufacturers protested the purchase of vaccines from abroad, stating that they said, 'You want to buy vaccines from foreigners; why don't you support domestic production?' He mentioned that he told them that if he had to buy vaccines from the 'enemy' to get them faster, he would prefer to buy them from the 'enemy' to save people's lives. Alireza Raeisi noted that now these same individuals say, 'They were incompetent and could not import vaccines.' A notable point regarding vaccine imports to Iran is the opposition of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, to the import of vaccines made in the USA and Britain. The prohibition of Western 'mRNA' vaccines in Iran, which multiple studies have shown to be more effective than other vaccines with different technologies, and the focus of Islamic Republic officials on domestic production led to Iran starting vaccinations later than many countries, primarily with vaccines from China and Russia. Researchers from the USA, UK, Australia, and Canada recently published a paper comparing COVID-19 vaccination rates in Iran with seven other countries that are similar to Iran in terms of vaccine type (inactivated), income level, or population. These researchers assessed the importance of vaccination timing in Iran by considering a virtual scenario, holding all factors involved in the COVID-19 pandemic constant while changing only one parameter, the speed of vaccination. This research suggests that if Iran had followed Turkey's vaccination model, it could have prevented 50,000 additional deaths compared to the current mortality rate. Dr. Kiarash Aramesh, one of the authors of this paper, emphasized in an interview with VOA that 'political interference in health matters' was one of the significant reasons for the delay in COVID-19 vaccination in Iran. He mentioned that 'there is a possibility that some companies profited significantly from the relatively monopolistic production of vaccines, which cannot be proven in the current conditions of Iran without an independent judiciary.' Dr. Aramesh added that some doctors acted against medical ethics due to 'political profiteering,' wrote letters in support of the vaccine ban, and were not only not held accountable but also reached high positions in Ebrahim Raisi's government. Ebrahim Raisi was among those who defended Khamenei's decision to ban Western vaccines, calling it 'a wise measure to protect people's lives.' An open letter from 2,500 'professors and faculty members of medical universities in the country' to Hassan Rouhani, the then-President, raised questions about the approval process and side effects of American and British vaccines. Bahram Einollahi, the current Minister of Health, was one of the signatories of this letter.