Pasteur Institute of Iran

The Pasteur Institute of Iran, over a century old and one of the country's two principal vaccine producers, has been severely damaged in the current conflict. Iran's president publicly urged international health bodies to respond after the strike; the attack drew condemnation alongside reports that more than 20 healthcare facilities have been struck since 1 March. No international scientific body has to date suspended research collaboration with Iran.

Founded in 1920 following an agreement between the Institut Pasteur of Paris and the Iranian government, the Institute was conceived in the aftermath of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, which killed hundreds of thousands across Persia. Land was donated by the Iranian nobleman Abd-al-Hosayn Mirza Farmanfarma; the government provided 15,000 tomans and Paris sent a founding director. In its first 19 months, the Institute produced 19 types of sera and vaccines and approximately 190,000 doses of smallpox inoculum. It became financially and administratively independent of Paris in 1946. A production complex in Karaj was added in 1988 to meet growing national demand. Over its history the Institute has produced vaccines against smallpox, cholera, rabies, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, typhoid, anthrax, and typhus.

The Pasteur Institute sits alongside the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute as one of two pillars of Iran's domestic vaccine supply. Damage to its facilities threatens Iran's capacity to maintain immunisation programmes for a civilian population already under severe stress from conflict and sanctions. Strikes on scientific and public health infrastructure raise distinct questions under International humanitarian law, which prohibits attacks on objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. The simultaneous targeting of at least 30 universities signals a broader pattern of strikes on Iran's scientific and institutional base.