800 Million Allocated for Vaccine Procurement from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna, Says Zeynalyan

Armenia is set to import an additional 800 million Armenian drams worth of vaccines through a global unified procurement platform. This was announced today during a press briefing in the National Assembly by Narek Zeynalyan, the Chairman of the Health and Social Affairs Committee.

“There is a contract with the unified platform. If I am not mistaken, a preliminary amount of 800 million has already been transferred to procure vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna. These three vaccines are registered on the platform,” Zeynalyan stated, adding that negotiations are currently underway between the Russian Federation and the unified platform to include the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine as well.

Moreover, he noted that Armenia is also discussing with Russia the issue of importing a new batch of the Russian vaccine.

“2,000 doses have been donated to Armenia, which have been administered to at-risk groups, including infectious disease specialists and the doctors directly involved in treating patients. Naturally, this is a very small amount. Now negotiations are also ongoing with Russia regarding acquiring their vaccine,” Zeynalyan said.

In response to questions about the safety of AstraZeneca, Zeynalyan stated that according to WHO data, a direct link between the vaccine and the complications reported among those vaccinated has not been proven.

Zeynalyan also assured that there is a considerable number of citizens in Armenia eager to get vaccinated.