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Iran
An Iranian woman walks past shuttered stores in Tehran on August 16, 2021, at the start of renewed COVID-19 restrictions. Photo: Atta Kenare/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday slammed the Iranian government for "mismanagement" and a “lack of transparency” over the vaccine rollout as the country grapples with a fifth wave of COVID-19 cases, saying authorities are compounding the crisis in the country.
The COVID-19 crisis is being exacerbated by authorities’ refusal to procure vaccines produced in the UK and US, it added.
“Iranian officials have blamed sanctions and delays in importing vaccines, as well as each other, for the slow roll out of the vaccination problem, without providing clear evidence of their claims,” HRW noted, saying officials have made statements that have “severely interfered” with vaccine procurement and “sowed disinformation.”
In January, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned the import of all UK and US-made vaccines into the country, claiming they are “untrustworthy." Cases in Iran are now at an all-time high, and hospitals are at full capacity.
A black market has now emerged for vaccine doses, the Associated Press recently reported, with a dose going for more than $1,000 - out of reach for many Iranians in a country also gripped by economic woes.
“Iranians are expressing their anger at the authorities’ incompetence and lack of transparency in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, which is costing an Iranian life every few minutes,” said HRW's Iran researcher Tara Sepehri Far. “Public trust is a crucial factor in managing the public health crisis, yet Iranian authorities’ track record of repeated failure is happening again.”
“Iranian authorities cannot blame sanctions to excuse their mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she added. “Iranians need and deserve better from their government.”
HRW urged Iranian officials to increase efforts to face the crisis.
“Iranian authorities should urgently redouble efforts to respond effectively to the crisis, including by using all resources necessary to secure lifesaving vaccines and transparently communicating and enforcing effective and clear vaccination and other safety guidelines.”
According to Wednesday data from the health ministry, less than 10 percent of Iranians are fully vaccinated.
On Saturday, President Ebrahim Raisi said Iran has secured the purchase of 30 million vaccine doses, which he claimed is half of what is needed to get the current situation under control.
The fifth wave of the virus in Iran is by the far the worst. On Wednesday, Iran recorded 39,174 new cases and 583 deaths. The country has been the hardest-hit in the Middle East.
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