TEHRAN (Iran News) –After the first case of JN.1 variant of COVID-19 was detected in Iran, an Iranian infectious disease specialist has sought to sooth concerns among the public, saying the substrain, although highly transmissible, is not fatal.

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Addressing the national anti-COVID19 committee meeting on Saturday, Raisi referred to developments in Barekat and Razi vaccines production lines.

He also pointed to imports of 50 million doses of vaccine; saying will bring calmness and will remove concerns among people.

He noted that screening plan and vaccination will pave the way for opening schools and educational centers.

Raisi emphasized, “Of course, under any circumstances and even after the quota of vaccinated people is reached, the public obligation to observe health protocols is the most effective measure along with vaccination to protect people against the COVID-19 virus”.

The President pointed out, “It is better that the reports submitted to the task force by the various departments about the decrease or increase in the new cases or fatalities, be presented along with the reasons for this increase and decrease”.

In another part of his speech, Raisi said, “In order to manage public opinion regarding the outbreak and to address unnecessary concerns, it is better to hold scientific and expert meetings on the radio and television under the supervision of the Ministry of Health”.

Referring to the approach of the Arbaeen ceremony the President said, “Negotiations are underway with the Iraqi side in order to hold this ceremony in the best possible way, with the priority of protecting the lives of pilgrims of the Ahl al-Bayt”.

Iran’s imported COVID-19 vaccines surpass 50 million doses, with the 50th consignment of vaccines afforded from foreign sources entering the country on Saturday.

The new batch of imported coronavirus vaccines includes 3.2 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine afforded in the framework of UN’s COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX).

Meanwhile on Friday Raisi said his administration prioritizes domestic production and will not allow excessive imports.

He hailed Iranian factories including those manufacturing home appliances for turning threats into opportunities as the country remains under U.S. sanctions.

“The same thing is happening in home appliance factories which have made good progress. They (the enemies) prevented goods manufactured by Korean factories from entering our country, and limited their production and distribution offices in Iran. This resulted in opening home appliance factories which now meet the needs of the country….but some are talking about importing Korean goods again,” the Iranian president said on Friday during a trip to South Khorasan province.

“We will not allow excessive imports that will adversely impact production in the country,” the Iranian president noted.

The Iranian president’s comments come as some reports say foreign manufacturers of home appliances could decide to return to Iran after they left when former U.S. president Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and imposed unilateral sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

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Delivering a televised speech on Wednesday, Ayatollah Khamenei described the coronavirus outbreak as the country’s first and foremost issue.

The Leader called on the executives to double their efforts to procure vaccines, whether imported or domestically developed, and made them available to everyone.

“Fortunately, the production of vaccines within the country paved the path for the import of foreign shots as well, whereas before that, foreign suppliers would renege on their promises despite having received the payments,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

The Leader called on the people to display the same level of heightened sensitivity to safety precautions to curb the disease as they did when the pandemic first began “so that their lives and those of others would not be endangered.”

He stressed that frontline health workers, who have been working under immense pressure since the pandemic began, need a slight break from the strain, which will be provided if people strictly follow safety protocols for a couple of months.

He called for a new and stronger defense against the deformation and mutation of the virus, saying that the death of more than 500 people in a day, as well as tens of thousands of new cases of coronavirus infection, is really painful, so we have a responsibility to deal with it.

The Leader called the president’s one-week deadline to gather proposals for confronting the disease and decide on them good measure, saying that at the appointed time, every necessary action must be decided and acted upon decisively.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution also considered the extreme fatigue of the medical staff and the physical and mental pressures on them to be a great concern and appreciated them for their efforts.

Ayatollah Khamenei, in his advice to the officials, emphasized providing a wide range of vaccines.

Until then, he said, vaccines will also have been made fully available to everyone, and even though the pandemic will not have gone away, the crisis and the fatalities will have subsided.

The Leader also pointed to the arrival of the lunar month of Muharram, which coincides with the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (PBUH), the third Shia imam, advising the people to meticulously and thoroughly observe COVID safety guidelines while attending the mourning rituals and ceremonies observed during this time.

Ayatollah Khamenei hailed an initiative by President Ebrahim Raisi to set a one-week deadline for proposals on a comprehensive national response to the current peak of the outbreak. “At the designated time, the response to the issue should be carefully weighed, and any necessary measures adopted and enforced accordingly,” he said.

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According to the public relations of the TPO, in the meeting, Mr. Zadboum enumerated potential capacities for cooperation between the two countries in the fields like mining, petrochemical, medical industries, agro industries, machine-manufacturing industries, auto-making and extraterrestrial cultivation, and underscored the reinforcement of bilateral cooperation more than ever.

Zadboum then pointed to the great opportunities between the two countries regarding the increase of trade exchanges and called for enhancing bartering trade between Tehran and Brasilia and balancing the trade balance. He also expressed hope that with the decline in the number of the COVID-19 casualties   in Brazil, and said with containing the virus, the possibility for more cooperation in the medical sector is very important.

He also urged Brazil to share its experiences with Iran for easing Iran’s membership at the World Trade Organization, and by pointing to the capacities of APEX, equivalent to Iran’s TPO in Brazil, called for more cooperation between these two economic bodies and signing MoUs for cooperation in the near future.

Meanwhile Brazilian envoy Goncalves de Aguiar Neto, for his part, expressed his country’s interest to broaden all-out bilateral ties with Iran and emphasized the necessity for pursuing the trade and interests for trade exchange,  and called the launch of the Joint Iran-Brazil Chamber office in Sao Paulo a good opportunity for expanding trade relations of the two states and termed important holding the joint economic trade events.

He then emphasized more cooperation between Iran and Brazil in the future like extension of MoU on cooperation in the mining sector between the two states and called for participation of economic activists of his country at Tehran’s agro-food exhibition.

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The studies also showed that the vaccine performed very well against the South African mutation, which is most prevalent in Cuba, and the New York variant, which combines several strains, including Indian, he stated.

He continued that one of the people’s concerns about the prevalence of African and Indian strains was whether they neutralize the effect of vaccines, while the study, showing the effectiveness of the Iran-Cuba joint vaccine, also alleviated public concern.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, for example, is normally about 70 percent effective, but against the South African strain it drops to 10 percent, but the Pastu Covac can provide up to 62 percent protection against these strains, he explained.

Third phase of clinical trial underway

The third phase of the clinical trial is underway in eight cities being administrated to 24,000 people, Biglari said, IRNA reported on Thursday.

Although our focus is on clinical trials, mass production is underway. The goal is to produce and deliver about one million doses of vaccine to the Ministry of Health by the end of September, he explained.

“We are developing the production capacity to 2 to 3 times the current capacity,” he added.

Developed by Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute and Pasteur Institute of Iran, Pastu Covac vaccine is a conjugate vaccine with two injectable doses. It consists of the receptor-binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein conjugated chemically to tetanus toxoid.

The two first phases of the human trial have been conducted in Cuba, while the third phase is underway with 24,000 volunteers in Iran and 44,000 volunteers in Cuba.

Mass vaccination

Mass vaccination against COVID-19 started on Iranian citizens with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine on February 9.

While Iran continues efforts to mass-produce local candidates, 13 million doses of foreign vaccines have already been imported and others are expected soon.
Iran is also producing vaccines jointly with two countries Russia, and Australia, which may also be released by September.

Homegrown vaccines

COVIRAN BAREKAT, the first coronavirus vaccine made by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, which has received the license for public use on June 14.
The vaccine was unveiled on December 29, 2020, and started to be mass-produced on March 29.

Razi Cov Pars, developed by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, is the second Iranian-made vaccine that started the clinical trial on February 27.
Iran is producing a total of 9 vaccines.

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Since mid-February, 20 vaccine consignments have been delivered to the country, which is estimated at 9.4 million doses.

Toshimitsu Motegi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, announced on Tuesday that the Japanese government will donate 2.9 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Iran through the COVAX facility.

The COVAX Facility is a partnership, co-led by Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi-The Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organization (WHO), alongside key delivery partner United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Vaccines imported from several countries, including Russia, India, Italy, and South Korea, have been imported to Iran.

Iran has so far received two batches of vaccines from the COVAX facility. The first shipment, included over 700,000 doses of Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by South

Korean firm SK Bioscience, and the second one consisted of 1,452,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by Catalent Anagni of Italy.

In Early-May, the country imported 1 million doses from China, through consultation conducted by the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS).

Iran also has so far taken delivery of nine batches of the Russian “Sputnik V” vaccine, containing 90,000 doses.

While the country continues efforts to mass-produce local candidates, several foreign vaccines have already been imported and others are expected.
Mass vaccination against COVID-19 started on Iranian citizens with Sputnik V on February 9.

The Islamic Republic is currently producing vaccines jointly with three countries of Cuba, Russia, and Australia, which may also be released by September, while two homegrown vaccines have so far received the emergency use license.

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The pandemic has compromised health care systems particularly in the area of reproductive health.

UNFPA advises against reactionary policy responses, which can be extremely harmful if they violate rights, health, and choices. The agency emphasizes that women must be empowered educationally, economically, and politically to exercise choice over their bodies and fertility.

World Population Day is observed on July 11 each year.

It took hundreds of thousands of years for the world population to grow to 1 billion – then in just another 200 years or so, it grew sevenfold. In 2011, the global population reached the 7 billion mark, and today, it stands at about 7.7 billion, and it’s expected to grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.9 billion in 2100.

This dramatic growth has been driven largely by increasing numbers of people surviving to reproductive age and has been accompanied by major changes in fertility rates, increasing urbanization, and accelerating migration. These trends will have far-reaching implications for generations to come.

The recent past has seen enormous changes in fertility rates and life expectancy. In the early 1970s, women had on average 4.5 children each; by 2015, total fertility for the world had fallen to below 2.5 children per woman. Meanwhile, average global lifespans have risen, from 64.6 years in the early 1990s to 72.6 years in 2019.

In addition, the world is seeing high levels of urbanization and accelerating migration. 2007 was the first year in which more people lived in urban areas than in rural areas, and by 2050 about 66 percent of the world population will be living in cities.

These megatrends have far-reaching implications. They affect economic development, employment, income distribution, poverty, and social protections. They also affect efforts to ensure universal access to health care, education, housing, sanitation, water, food, and energy. To more sustainably address the needs of individuals, policymakers must understand how many people are living on the planet, where they are, how old they are, and how many people will come after them.

Zero population growth in 20 years

Iran, which is now called “middle-aged” with about 70 percent of the active population, is sounding the alarm about the declining trend of population growth and the upward trend of aging.

In 1977, the country’s population grew by 3.4 percent annually, however, suddenly, it dropped to about 1.6 percent in 2006, and a decade later, the population growth rate stood at 1.24, showing a considerable decline.

However, some experts claimed that the rate has declined to 0.6 percent in 2020.

Generally, three factors of birth, mortality, and immigration are effective in population growth.

In 1977, the average number of children per woman was 7, which reached 1.8 children in 2006, and finally, in 2016, the ratio was estimated at 1.24.

It is estimated that population growth will reach zero in 2040 and then becomes negative, so the biggest concern is that Iran’s population will age in the coming years, fertility will decline, and the population of youth will decrease.

The causes of declining fertility as increasing literacy, education, and urbanization, she said that “whenever development indicators increase in each country, the fertility rate decreases and in Iran the fertility rate has decreased.”

Demographic window of opportunity

In demography, the population under the age of 15 is called “young”. In 1977, 46 percent of the people were young, while now 23 percent of the population are below 15 years of age.

In 2006, the elderly constituted 3 percent of the population, which now increased to 8-9 percent. At that time, the population was very young and now is middle-aged.

Iran has achieved a demographic window of opportunity which in all other countries led to economic prosperity so that Iran must seize the opportunity now before its working-age population starts to shrink and get older in the 2050s.

 Highest fertility decline in human history

According to the data released by the National Organization for Civil Registration, the number of births registered during the [Iranian calendar] year 1390 (March 2011-March 2012) was equal to 1,382,118, which increased to 1,528,053 births in the [Iranian calendar] year 1395 (March 2016-March 2017).

However, the number of births in the whole country faced a downtrend over the past three years, as registered births decreased to 1,196,135 over the [Iranian calendar] year 1398 (March 2019- March 2020); a difference of roughly over 120,000 to 16,000 per year.

Nicholas Eberstadt, the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) wrote in an article in July 2020 that the fertility rate in Iran has dropped by 70 percent over the past 30 years, which has been the highest decline in human history.

Melinda Gates, an American philanthropist and co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, also wrote on her Twitter account that “The fastest decrease in the rate of childbearing per woman in the history of the world has happened in Iran!”

Seyed Hamed Barakati, deputy health minister for family and school population, said in May that Iran’s population growth rate has decreased to less than one percent for the first time over the past four decades.

At the beginning of the Islamic Revolution (in 1979), the country’s population grew by 2.5 percent annually, however, suddenly, population growth reached about 1.5 percent in the 1980s, he highlighted.

How to reverse the trend?

Although, several plan and programs on population growth and family support have been proposed in the country to solve the downward trend of fertility, not an effective result have yet achieved.

Recently, the Majlis (Iranian Parliament) approved on March 16 to implement a population growth and family support plan for 7 years to change the declining trend of childbearing.

However, it would be a good plan if it is strictly enforced and well implemented. If it is not implemented well or only some clauses are implemented, the plan will not seem to be successful, according to Shahla Kazemipour, a demographer.

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The first secretary and head of chancery of Malaysia Embassy in Tehran H.E. Mohd Nizam bin Halim and Marketing Manager of Tourism Malaysia in Iran Mr. Farhad Jafari at a press conference elaborated Malaysia’s plans for boosting their tourism industry in the post-Covid era.

In response to a question on Malaysia’s plans regarding attracting tourism in the post-Covid era in the Middle East and especially in Iran, Mr. Nizam bin Halim said Tourism Malaysia has conducted consistent studies and research to better formulate an equipped tourism plan for the Middle East market. He added that the country is currently focused on the domestic tourism until the country gets rid of the virus and lifting the lockdown.

He went on to say that Tourism Malaysia has also launched the campaign #WeMissYou, especially for the Middle East region, to emphasize the memories it has for the travelers wandering around the magnificent attractions that Malaysia offers.

He noted that in December 2020, the Malaysian Prime Minister launched the National Tourism Policy 2020-2030 that would be focused on strengthening competitiveness, encouraging sustainable and inclusive tourism, as well as planning for future disasters.

Bin Halim reiterated that Malaysia will also exhibit daily cultural shows and craft demonstrations at the Malaysian Pavilion’s amphitheater during EXPO 2020 Dubai. He added that currently Malaysia is already open for investors and business travelers and the short term business travel is exempted from the mandatory quarantine otherwise the visitors have to stay for two weeks at a certain hotel as mandatory quarantine.

He noted that Iran and Malaysia have good cooperation and it is expected after the virus is contained, the tourist exchange between the two states would pick up. Regarding to Iranian market, he said Malaysia plans to hold recovery seminars in all over Iran as business-to-business seminars between Malaysia whole sellers and affiliated agencies and also business-to-customer seminars for the most potential customers of Malaysia destinations as soon as the country receives the indication of borders opening. He also stated Tourism Malaysia will do joint promotion with airlines such as joint familiarization trip to Malaysia for the media and travel agencies to visit Malaysia.

Mr. Bin Halim admitted that Malaysia is looking at the year 2025 for travel return to normal and have earmarked the Middle East as one of its important market.

On how much damage Malaysia’s tourism industry has suffered due to the pandemic, he said international tourist arrivals to Malaysia plunged 83.4% in 2020 to record a total of 4.332m arrivals as compared to 26.1m recorded in 2019. He reiterated that the decline in the international travel to Malaysia shows an estimated 73.5b ringgits or 85.3% decline in tourism revenue from 81.14b in 2019 to 12.69b in 2020.

On Iran-Malaysia trade volume, he said the trade volume between the two countries has been affected by the U.S. unilateral sanctions and stood at $0.37b in 2020.  Bin Halim said that palm oil as well as agro products and machinery and parts are Malaysia’s major exports to Iran an in return it imports agro and oil products from Iran.

He emphasized that Malaysia did not recognize the U.S. unilateral sanctions against Iran but the companies are afraid of doing business with Iran due to the sanctions. He expressed hope that after the U.S. sanctions is lifted, the trade between the two states would pick up, reiterating that Iran is Malaysia’s important trade partner in the West Asia.

Bin Halim said Malaysia is exploring ways forward in fostering more strategic partnership in various fields such as tourism, health, education and halal industries with Iran. He reiterated that Malaysia is also keen to increase the export of palm oil and palm products to all countries, including Iran. He emphasized that Malaysia produces its palm oil based on the international standards without using chemicals and it is not a dangerous to the health because former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad consumes palm oil and he has no problem with Iran. He added that Malaysia is after finding a mechanism for exporting its palm oil to Iran.

Meanwhile Mr. Jafari, for his part, briefed the reporters participating in the press conference of the plans of Tourism Malaysia in the post-Covid era.

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Alireza Raeisi, the spokesman for the National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control, said that currently, 13 cities in the country are at high-risk red zones, 12 of which are in the southern provinces.

Except for southern Hormozgan and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces, all the provinces are experiencing a downward trend in the prevalence of the pandemic, he added, IRNA reported on Saturday.

Over 360,000 passengers tested at borders

Some 360,824 passengers have so far been screened for coronavirus by thermal tests at the country’s official borders since March 10, Mehdi Valipour, head of Relief and Rescue Organization affiliated to the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), has stated.

During the aforesaid period, IRCS forces have screened 360,824 passengers for COVID-19, 24,581 of whom with symptoms underwent PCR and 51,298 rapid tests, he said, IRNA reported.

He went on to lament that some 64 individuals, who tested positive, have so far been temporarily quarantined, under a plan to rapidly identify suspected cases of coronavirus and prevent the spread of new UK strain.

Some 431 members of the IRCS cooperate for carrying out the plan in 16 provinces across the country, Valipour concluded.

With the cooperation of ministries of health and transport, a plan is being implemented with the goal of rapidly identifying and testing incoming passengers and keeping them in quarantine facilities, if necessary.

Thirty border checkpoints have been selected, including 18 land borders, nine air borders, and three sea borders, all incoming passengers will be tested and referred to the quarantine facilities in case of necessity.

Around 8,000 individuals enter the country via borders on a daily basis.

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COVIRAN BAREKAT, the first coronavirus vaccine made by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, was unveiled on December 29, 2020, and started to be mass-produced on March 29.

So far, injections have been performed on 10,500 volunteers in the provinces of Tehran and Alborz through the third phase of the human trial, Hassan Jalili, director of the vaccine research team, said.

The volunteers are announced to be 18-75 years old, he added.

“One million doses of the vaccine have been produced. By June, this number will reach 12 million doses per month, and in August, and by September we will produce 20 to 25 million doses of vaccine.”

South America, African countries, several neighboring and two European countries have asked to purchase COVIRAN vaccine, Jalili said.

Although, we are capable of exporting the vaccine, however, through the policies adopted by the Ministry of Health, no vaccine will be exported until the domestic need is fully met, he stated.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced that immunization against coronavirus by the domestic vaccine will start by the next week, ISNA reported on May 30.

Vaccination to end by late November

President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that If the volume of COVID-19 vaccine required by the country is provided, the vaccination of people with underlying diseases will be completed by late July, and the whole population will be vaccinated by late November.

To vaccinate people with underlying diseases, about 14-15 million doses of vaccine is required, while we now have 5 million doses, so another 10 million must be provided to complete the process by the end of July, then we will continue the process with foreign and domestic vaccines, he explained.

He expressed hope to start vaccination of the whole population by the end of the summer (September 23), noting that given the country’s ability of vaccine administration, vaccinating 500,000 people in 24 hours, the entire population can receive the vaccine within three to four months.

Homegrown vaccines

The second Iranian-made vaccine developed by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute (Razi Cov Pars) to be administered among the population in early August; which started the clinical trial on February 27, entered the second phase of the human trial on Friday.
Iran has also successfully completed the first phase of the human trial for Fakhra vaccine, the third domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, named after nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (he was assassinated in November 2020 near Tehran), that was unveiled and started the clinical trial on March 16.

“Osvid-19”, the fourth domestic vaccine produced by Osvah Pharmaceutical Company is also undergoing human trials, which will also be available in early September.

On May 24, the first coronavirus vaccine made by the private sector in Iran succeeded in receiving the code of ethics and entered the phase of clinical studies.

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