The Islamic Republic has joined forces with Cuba to develop a vaccine for coronavirus, a senior health official has claimed.
As fears mount about a rise in coronavirus cases, Iranian health minister Saeed Namaki announced that Iran was working with another country to jointly produce a new coronavirus vaccine, though he stopped short of citing any specifics.
Prior to this, however, Kianoush Jahanpour, acting as a spokesman for Iran’s Food and Drug Administration, had reported that Iran and Cuba were working together on a vaccine.
The coronavirus vaccine is still the key preoccupation for both the media and the political arena, and for many members of the public too. President Rouhani expressed hope that Iran would be able to procure a vaccine in the coming weeks, while the health minister asked the public to regard him as the authority on the subject and discount all other theories, claims and rumors.
“We will procure the vaccine for the people from different sources,” said health minister Saeed Namaki. “I have said many times that when it comes to news about the vaccine, listen only to the health minister, a person who is experienced and knowledgeable in this area.”
Namaki also claimed that, as of early January, the clinical trial for the Iranian vaccine had been successful and said the final results would be announced 28 days after the second round of injections on February 9. He said he hoped the domestic vaccine would be ready “in late spring 2021 at the latest.”
During a cabinet meeting on January 3, President Rouhani said: "the Central Bank, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Plan and Budget Organization, together with the Ministry of Health, which is responsible for the necessary expertise, should plan to purchase and transfer vaccines to the country faster. We hope the purchase and the transfer of Covid-19 vaccine will be accomplished in coming weeks.”
Who Will be Vaccinated First?
Namaki said he had appointed a team to assign priority for vaccination for vulnerable people. He said when the vaccine “arrives in Iran” high-risk groups will be invited to be the first to be vaccinated.
According to deputy health minister Alireza Raeesi, high-risk groups include medical staff working in ICUs and in direct contact with coronavirus, elderly people living in nursing homes, those over 75, individuals with underlying or difficult-to-cure diseases, individuals undergoing chemotherapy and those suffering from “several diseases at the same time.” He said these groups will be prioritized for vaccination, adding that the process will be carried out in four phases. “We must carry them out depending on how many vaccines we get. I believe that everybody must be clearly informed of the priorities so that they will know how the distribution of the vaccine is going to work.”
The sharp rise in air pollution in at least 10 Iranian metropolitan areas has sparked fears that the number of coronavirus infections will increase. Despite this, Iranian officials have not agreed to lock down the capital Tehran and other cities.
Provinces Round-up
The situation in Iranian provinces is relatively stable except in Mazandaran. More than 40 days after extensive lockdowns in the province went into effect, the situation has deteriorated. On January 3, the National Coronavirus Taskforce announced that the alert level in four cities had reverted to full, or red, state of alert, and four other cities are on the verge of going red.
Dr. Abbas Mousavi, president of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, said the first wave of coronavirus in Iran started in February 2020, the second in July and the third wave in October, but the third wave did not reach Mazandaran, which remained in a stable situation. He said changes in people’s behavior, including their travel behavior, had played a major role in the current increase in infections. Lockdowns and restrictions in Mazandaran will remain in place, he added.
Dr. Mohammad Reza Mir Karimi, a pulmonary diseases specialist and a member of the science faculty of Ahvaz Jondishapur University of Medical Science, reported that since the outbreak of coronavirus more than 1,000 children with coronavirus symptoms had visited Abuzar Hospital, a children’s hospital in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan, and between 400 and 500 of them have tested positive for Covid-19. However, he added, only a small number of children who were infected with coronavirus and were treated in the hospital have died.
In the last 24 hours, 47 more people with coronavirus symptoms were hospitalized in Kermanshah and 39 were discharged after recovering. Currently 176 Covid-19 patients are hospitalized in the province and, with the recent death of one person with Covid-19, the death toll in the province reached 1,429.
Of the 20 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units in Bushehr, five are using ventilators to breathe, reported Dr. Saeed Kashmiri, president of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences and the secretary of the province’s coronavirus taskforce. In the 24 hours spanning January 2 and January 3, 14 new patients with coronavirus symptoms were hospitalized in the province and the total number of Covid-19 hospitalizations there stood at 75. Since the coronavirus outbreak 232 people have died from Covid-19 in Bushehr.
In the last 24 hours 36 new coronavirus patients were hospitalized in Ardebil and 25 patients were discharged from hospitals. Currently the total number of hospitalizations in the province is 232; 66 of them are in ICUs.
With the hospitalization of 53 new patients with Covid-19 symptoms in Alborz in the last 24 hours, the number of hospitalizations in the province has reached 342, reported Dr. Mohammad Fathi, President of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. And with the death of another five patients, the coronavirus death toll in the province stood at 2,593 as of January 3.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for January 3, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:
Dr. Lari reported that currently four Iranian cities are on red alert, 43 cities are in an orange state of alert and 401 are yellow.
This is part of IranWire's coronavirus chronology. Read the full chronology
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