Khamenei’s ban on buying vaccines is a crime against humanity
According to state media, a nurse died of the Coronavirus at Mehr Hospital in Ahvaz on August 2, 2021.
Afsaneh Ehsani, a 26-year-old nurse, died after giving birth to her baby on July 31, 2021. The nurse, who contracted the virus while working at Mehr Hospital, developed severe shortness of breath. Due to her pregnancy, Ms. Ehsani’s illness worsened, and she died immediately after giving birth (The state-run Hamshahri Online– August 2, 2020).
In other unfortunate news, Dr. Sogand Sedaghatnia, a cardiology resident at Imam Hossein Hospital in Tehran, died suddenly due to a stroke. According to her colleagues, she worked in the COVID-19 emergency center, which is more crowded than ever these days.
Since March 2021, eight young medical residents have died suddenly in Iran (The state-run ROKNA News Agency – July 31, 2021).
The death of residents due to stress associated with difficult hospital work is among the catastrophes we have reported in the past. These reports are a few examples of the high number of deaths of medical staff in Iran due to the Coronavirus.
Mohammad Mirzabeigi, head of the Nursing Organization, indicates the following statistics: “As of May, 120 nurses have died of the Coronavirus. More than 100,000 of them were infected (The official IRNA news agency – May 11, 2021).
According to Mohammad Mirzabeigi, “we are witnessing the massacre of nursing staff in the country’s hospitals” (The state-run Entekhab Website –April 9, 2021). However, according to various regime statistics, there is a shortage of 80,000 to 150,000 nurses in public and private centers (The state-run Arman Daily – January 2, 2020).
One person dies every 4 minutes in Iran
According to statistics compiled by the Iranian Resistance, as of August 9, 2021, the death toll of Coronavirus victims in 547 cities has exceeded 354,100 people.
Disaster is happening, while the authorities have abandoned the country. Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, head of the Organization of the Medical System, admitted, “The daily death toll of Coronavirus in Iran is higher than in the European Union, which has a population of about 450 million.”
On August 7, the state-run website Khabar Online wrote, “During the last 7 days, every 2.5 seconds, a person in Iran became infected with Coronavirus, and one person died every 4 minutes.”
Mohammad Reza Mahboubfar, a member of the Scientific Association for Health Education, wrote, “The country has entered a deadlock, and control of the disease is out of the hands of the officials, and the sixth wave will begin soon” (The state-run Arman Meli Newspaper – August 1, 2021).
The Delta variant of the Coronavirus is affecting 29 provinces, and the rate of hospitalization in these provinces is increasing sharply. Hospitals are overcrowded.
The price of Covid drugs is very high on the black market. According to some doctors, even serum and distilled water cannot be found.
“Tehran is the source of many exchanges; a different strategy must be adopted to increase vaccination,” said Alireza Zali, the head of Coronavirus Combat Taskforce of Tehran province. “Without controlling the Coronavirus in Tehran, it is impossible to control the virus in the rest of the country,” he added (The official IRNA news agency – August 4, 2021).
Speaking about the Coronavirus disaster in Iran, Zali said, “We are going through the most difficult conditions since the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak in Tehran hospitals. The turnout was very high” (The official IRNA News Agency – August 2 and 3, 2021).
Regarding the lack of the most basic requirements, the head of Sina Hospital in Tehran said, “We need help: we need beds and oxygen. If the number of patients increases, we do not have room for them, and they will have to stay outside the door.”
“Disaster is happening, and the country has been abandoned,” said a doctor in Alborz. “Only with the death of a patient does the bed become available” (The state-run ISNA news agency – August 3, 2021).
“The medical system is in a very difficult situation. Due to the medical staff’s tremendous fatigue, the medical system is collapsing,” said the head of the Infectious Diseases department at Loghman Hospital in Tehran (The state-run ISNA news agency – August 1, 2021).
In Mashhad, a group of medical university professors and doctors wrote, “If the city is not locked down, a catastrophe is on the way. There is so much silence from officials that it is as if hearing that more than 300 people are dying is just part of daily news, and they are completely desensitized.” (The state-run ISNA News Agency – July 30, 2021).
“The situation with the outbreak of the Coronavirus in our country is such that it shows a collection of inefficiencies and backwardness,” the state-run Sharq Newspaper wrote on August 5.
Who is responsible for the Coronavirus disaster in Iran?
Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, is responsible for this horrific tragedy. He was the first to ban foreign vaccines from entering Iran. Widespread reports suggest that the regime’s domestically produced vaccines also cause death.
The government insists that the current situation is normal, despite the high number of deaths. The rate of infection could have been controlled, and the death rate could have been much lower. But the regime caused a bigger disaster by preventing the vaccine from entering Iran.
Given the current Coronavirus disaster in Iran, cemeteries in some provinces have run out of space. In Kerman, mass graves have been uncovered (The state-run Iran Daily – August 3, 2021). Khamenei’s ban on buying vaccines is a crime against humanity. He is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iranians due to the Coronavirus. The international community must strongly condemn this crime and force the regime to remove barriers to vaccination.
