In Iran, the flu vaccine shortage this winter is raising serious public health concerns. State media reports indicate that approximately 3 to 4 million high-risk Iranians are being deprived of access to the vaccine. Meanwhile, various types of flu vaccines are circulating on the black market, with prices reaching up to 12 million rials—several times the standard cost.
This shortage brings back memories of the COVID-19 vaccine crisis that plagued the country at the height of the pandemic, highlighting severe shortcomings in Iran’s healthcare system. During that period, delays and ineffective policies in vaccine procurement and quarantine measures led to a sharp rise in death rates, placing Iran among the countries with the highest mortality rates. Today, the lack of flu vaccines escalates the risk, particularly for vulnerable groups, in the absence of effective policies to secure public health needs.
Although flu vaccines are available on the black market, the authorities’ failure to regulate distribution and control prices underscores the government’s inability to safeguard citizens’ health, which some see as a form of “silent killing” due to random policies and administrative corruption.
According to the state-run Alef website, the black market emerged as soon as winter approached and demand for the vaccine rose. ISNA news agency also reports complaints from local officials about vaccine shortages, with the head of the Infectious Diseases Department at Yazd University of Medical Sciences noting that the province’s vaccine allocation is insufficient to meet the needs of high-risk groups, forcing some to turn to the black market.
This situation highlights the dominance of factions linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) over the pharmaceutical industry, where these entities use their influence to advance financial interests at the expense of citizens’ health. The pharmaceutical sector is controlled by figures and groups close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, enabling them to reap substantial profits by monopolizing production, distribution, and even resources intended to support the healthcare sector.
This control became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when authorities insisted on supporting local vaccine production while restricting the import of internationally recognized vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna. Billions of tomans were allocated to support companies closely associated with the ruling circles. Meanwhile, the ban on foreign vaccines led to a worrying increase in death rates in a health crisis that could have been mitigated if international vaccines had been permitted.
Instead of focusing on improving public health and protecting citizens’ lives, officials exploited the crisis for personal gain. Reports indicate that influential figures in the pharmaceutical sector, connected to regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei, see this industry as a source of wealth, disregarding their duty to safeguard the health of the Iranian people.
