Coordinating Deputy Commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) says the companies producing Covid-19 vaccines believe that the world is over-populated and there is evidence that they want to reduce the world population by 20 percent.

"The same people who own the companies that produce the coronavirus vaccine believe that the world is overpopulated, and the world population must be reduced by 20 percent. This reduction is only possible by increasing deaths. There is evidence that these companies have manipulated the vaccine itself and contaminated it. How can one trust them in such circumstances," Brigadier-General Mohammdreza Naghdi was quoted by the Iranian Students News Agency on Friday as saying.

Naghdi said he could not interfere in the work of health authorities but the health of the Revolutionary Guards is his responsibility so he can advise them on the matter of vaccination with foreign-made vaccines.

Hardliners have been campaigning against the Rouhani government plans to purchase US-made Covid vaccines through the World Health Organization’s Covax facility. They believe the west would even use vaccines as a biological weapon against Iranians and have instead been promoting a vaccine now in the first phase of human testing that a state-owned company claims to have produced.

The company, Shifa Pharmed, is a subsidiary of Barakat Foundation, a charitable foundation – and business group − controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

On Thursday tens of hardliners and clerics staged a protest rally against foreign-made vaccines in front of Iran's Health Ministry. One of the posters that participants carried demanded the "exclusion of the Zionist-American World Health Organization (WHO) from decisions [on vaccination] in the country."

Another poster in the rally urged the Judiciary to investigate the WHO representative in Iran for promoting UNESCO's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has repeatedly spoken against the implementation of the UNESCO goals as a means to destroy the country's "Islamic-Iranian identity."

Spurred by a social media campaign with the Hashtag "By the vaccine" that has gained huge popularity, the government of President Hassan Rouhani and health officials who blamed the United States sanctions for preventing Iran from accessing vaccines now say they are trying to procure Covid vaccines through several channels.

So far health officials have said that their plans include buying the vaccine through the WHO's Covax program, joint production with Cuba, and direct purchase from several countries including China, Russia and India as well as using homegrown vaccines if they become available.

On Wednesday President Hassan Rouhani said his government has no doubts about starting mass vaccination in three weeks, with imported vaccines, and not waiting for the homegrown ones. "Arguing on whether it's better to import the vaccine or produce it is like arguing on whether our weapons should be made domestically or imported at the time of war," he said without ruling out the prospects of using the homegrown vaccine in the future "when we reach total self-sufficiency."

Iran International on Thursday acquired a document that shows the Health Ministry a month ago sought budget for importing foreign-made vaccines including the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine through India. The vaccine which has been approved for use in the UK is now being mass produced by India's Serum Institute.

The Serum Institute which is among the top three vaccine makers of the country and the world's largest vaccine maker by volume, has already manufactured 50 million doses of Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, in its facilities in India. Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, Covishield can be stored in a standard refrigerator.