Iran, reportedly suffering its worst coronavirus wave yet, is negotiating with one or two European countries to purchase Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines, according to Alireza Raisi, spokesman for the National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control, as reported by the Tehran Times.

The newly elected hardline government led by President Ebrahim Raisi is under heavy pressure to broaden its sourcing of vaccines as the country is struggling with its fifth and most deadly wave of COVID-19. It is dominated by the Delta virus variant said by some experts to be three or four times as infectious as previous variants experienced in Iran.

Officials have attempted to rely on predominantly Chinese vaccines against coronavirus with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei having issued a warning that vaccines from the US and UK could be used in a conspiracy against Iran. But the supply of vaccines is by some accounts close to running out—with severe delays hitting deliveries of Chinese and Russian vaccines and the production of Iran’s domestically developed vaccine, COVIran Barekat —in places including Isfahan and Tabriz, as well as provinces including Gilan, Khuzestan and Mazandaran, thus the demands that vaccines must be acquired from a broader range of suppliers.

Bahram Einollahi, the proposed minister of health in the Raisi administration, told a confirmation hearing in parliament that he did not expect Iran to be fully vaccinated until next February and that this would require 120m vaccine doses.

Einollahi added that Iran has delivered vaccine shots to 23mn people among its population of 84mn, but that only just over 6mn had received two jabs.

Anxiety over Lambda

Meanwhile, there is anxiety that the Lambda strain of the virus, first reported in Peru, is reaching Iran. Head of the Corona Disease Management Operations Headquarters in Tehran, Dr Alireza Zali, warned that Lambda was more infectious than other variants, probably more resistant to vaccines and more virulent among children.

The official coronavirus death toll in Iran reached 102,648 on August 23, with another 610 deaths announced. August 22 brought a record 684 deaths. New infections over the previous 24 hours officially stood at 38,657, compared to the record 50,228 logged on August 17.

Human Rights Watch has accused Iran of serial mismanagement. “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 Tara Sepehri Far, Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Public trust is a crucial factor in managing the public health crisis, yet Iranian authorities’ track record of repeated failure is happening again.”

An attempt by human rights groups within Iran to take the government to court for mishandling the crisis has been blocked, and some of the instigators arrested, the Guardian reported.

Following the end of a six-day lockdown, officials announced that closure orders would still apply to indoor shopping malls, wedding halls, cinemas, theatres, gyms, swimming pools, amusement parks and exhibition centres.  

The Iranian Chamber of Guilds estimated last week that Iran has lost as much as $10.9bn in income since the start of the pandemic early last year.