While the coronavirus death rate in Iran’s fifth wave is still high and many provinces have a critical situation, government officials are speaking and warning the public about a sixth wave.
The regime’s Health Minister said that the “sixth wave of the coronavirus in November” is “definite” and that, “according to the estimations of the scientists and sixth wave of the coronavirus in November is definite and will happen without any doubt.”
The minister added that “the Friday praying ceremony which was canceled for 1.5 years will be held this week.”
He falsely claimed that “we (the government), are fully prepared to fight with the sixth wave of the coronavirus” (state-run news agency Aria, October 20, 2021), something which is hardly believable because of its weak performance over the past two years.
Something that is increasing the concerns is that according to the regime 80 percent of those who have received even two doses of the Barkat or the Sinopharm vaccine are infected again and some of them even died, in such situation speaking about full readiness is just playing with more lives.
“Evidence from Iranian compatriots shows that the incidence of disease and hospital visits and hospitalizations in intensive care units has increased among the vaccinated people.
“Among those admitted and transferred to the intensive care unit, the news indicates that some vaccinated patients have finally died. Footage released from within hospitals shows that 80% of patients’ referrals are among the vaccinated.
“Unfortunately, due to the lack of transparency of the statistics and information published by the Ministry of Health and medical universities affiliated to the provinces, the depth of this tragedy in the community has been less addressed.” (State-run daily Hamdeli, October 19, 2021)
According to this report, it has been said that the effectiveness of the Sinopharm vaccine is just 5 percent while it has been said that it should be able to create a protection of 75 to 80 percent.
However, President Ebrahim Raisi’s government is getting ready to cancel many of the protective protocols like reopening the schools, which is raising the skepticism that the regime will use the sixth wave like the other five waves against the people.
“The country is still involved in the fifth wave of coronavirus because the virus is still taking lives, this tragedy is because of the weak policies against the coronavirus. These days, experts say, signs of the sixth wave of coronavirus have formed in western provinces.
“In situations where a high percentage of the community has not yet been vaccinated, hasty reopening and reliance on a low percentage of vaccine coverage are worrying.
“We all know that the custodian of the educational system can’t manage health properly in schools and universities, and as a result, infrastructure should be considered and then decided.
“Hasty reopening, regardless of the risk-to-benefit ratio, are not evidence-based action, and in the event of disease clusters in some educational centers, the severity of the outburst will be greater than the previous peaks, which were limited in these cumulative centers. The sixth coronavirus outbreak is likely in autumn.” (State-run daily Setareh-e-Sobh, October 20, 2021)
It is clear that the cause of the current critical situation and the start of a new wave is due to the lack of the vaccination of the majority, something that has prevented herd immunity. None of the protective protocols such as the quarantine were considered by the regime from the beginning and in many cases the regime’s officials especially its supreme leader have minimized the situation and worse prevented the import of approved vaccines.
Worse is that some of the regime’s officials like Health Minister Bahram Einollahi are legitimizing the regime’s crimes, while he said: “We have to get used to living with this virus.” (State-run daily Vatan-e-Emrooz, October 20, 2021)
