Iran Press/Iran News: Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Coronavirus Event in Milad Tower, Tehran, Mohammad Javad Zarif raised the question: “Why has the West monopolized the vaccine three times its consumption needs?”
"Justice was important in distributing vaccines and creating equal opportunities for rich and poor countries, Zarif said.
He added: “Everyone was equal in the face of this common human pain. If one country is insecure, the whole world becomes insecure. We cannot buy security for ourselves at the cost of making others insecure. We cannot build a future for ourselves by putting pressure on others. I wish coronavirus outbreak would at least teach us this lesson to understand that in an interconnected world, we were all sitting in the same boat.”
"No indigent patient was left without care at hospitals entrances, and this is what we are proud of in our country," Zarif said.
He added: "Can those who prevented us from transferring money to buy vaccines say that they learned the humanity and tolerance from the situation caused by the coronavirus outbreak appropriately?"
"We all have to learn from this one-year situation based on which our children were at home and could not go to school. We should learn our limits, needs, dependence, and connection to each other," Iranian FM said.
Zarif stated: "Health veterans created honor for the country and we cherish their memory. No words can express the extent of our indebtedness to the medical community. People are grateful. Know that we all consider ourselves indebted, and we hope that we will be able to properly appreciate this great service that the medical community has rendered to the country and made the country famous."
"Corona made clear to us some facts that we all knew," he said, noting: “The first reality was a human weakness. We need to realize our weakness at least once in a while and realize that in the face of this vastness of the universe, we are particles that sometimes forget our position and dominate and oppress and put pressure on others, but we do not realize that such a virus can bring the whole world to its knees.”
He went on to say: "The world's greatest advertising and scientific powers are incapable of fighting this virus. The United States has suffered the most damage and the highest deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, and this shows that we have only one superpower in the world, and that is the sacred essence of God. All superpowers must accept and believe that they can be defeated versus the will of God and the nations."
Zarif stated: "The efforts made by our scientists, along with the efforts made by the scientists from other countries, made it possible for us to develop the COVID-19 vaccine ourselves the way we made the missiles ourselves."
He noted: "We need to rely on ourselves, while we have extensive relations with the whole world, while we need to de-escalate tensions with the world. However, we must accept that we can achieve those blessings when we are strong and cohesive inside, standing on our feet.”
"The coronavirus outbreak has shown how interconnected the world is, and that means in a globalized world, we cannot be healthy while our neighbor is sick," Zarif pointed out.
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