An Iranian ayatollah claims the COVID-19 vaccine is turning people gay as his own country begins to roll out a vaccination program.
Ayatollah Abbas Tabrizian, a regime cleric based in the holy city of Qom, posted the false missive on Tuesday to nearly 210,000 followers on Telegram, a messaging and communication app popular in Iran.
“Don’t go near those who have had the COVID vaccine. They have become homosexuals,” Tabrizian wrote, according to the Jerusalem Post. Homosexuality is a capital offense in the country, which is known for executing gay and lesbian people.
Tabrizian has made other bizarre claims in the past and drew attention last year when he was seen in a video burning Harrison’s Manual of Medicine, saying it is “irrelevant” because of “Islamic medicine.”
Peter Tatchell, a human rights advocate and gay rights campaigner, told the newspaper that the Qom-based cleric “combines scientific ignorance with a crude appeal to homophobia.”
“He’s demonizing both the vaccination program and LGBT+ people without a shred of evidence,” Tatchell said. “By seeking to scare the public into not getting vaccinated against COVID-19, he is fueling the pandemic and putting lives at risk. Typical of many Iranian religious and political leaders, his bizarre, irrational claims scapegoat LGBTs and put theological prejudice before scientific knowledge.”
Iran launched its vaccination program this week using Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. The first recipient of an inoculation was the son of Minister of Health Saeed Namaki, which was reportedly done to build trust for the drug. Front-line workers will be the first to receive the vaccinations as part of the program. Iran claims that it will soon begin human trials of a domestically produced coronavirus vaccine.
Iran has been the Middle Eastern country most affected by the pandemic. The regime’s data claims the country has grappled with nearly 1.5 million cases and 58,686 deaths, although experts and dissident groups fear the number of those killed has been far higher.
