Iran’s Supreme Leader has banned the purchase of coronavirus
vaccines made by United States and United Kingdom companies, limiting the
country’s options as it confronts the worst outbreak in the Middle East.
“The import of American and British vaccines to the country
is banned,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech Friday, according
to Bloomberg.
“If their Pfizer manufacturer can produce a vaccine, then
why do they want to give it to us?” he said. “They should use it themselves so
they don’t experience so many fatalities. Same with the UK”
“Importing vaccines made in the US or the UK is prohibited.
They’re completely untrustworthy. It’s not unlikely they would want to
contaminate other nations. Given our experience with France’s HIV-tainted blood
supplies, French vaccines aren’t trustworthy either,” he added.
Khamenei is a strident critic of the U.S., which under
President Donald Trump left the 2015 nuclear deal that had offered Iran a route
to economic recovery and reimposed sweeping sanctions. Iranian officials have
said the penalties hindered the country’s response to the pandemic.
The cleric said western drug companies tested vaccines on
other countries “to see if they work or not.”
Khamenei only singled out Pfizer Inc. by name, but the ban
would appear to rule out imports of vaccines made by UK-based AstraZeneca Plc,
as well as US firm Moderna Inc.
Iran, which has recorded more than 1.2 million cases of
Covid-19 and in excess of 55,000 fatalities from the virus, also aims to have a
locally developed vaccine available by the summer.
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