All Members of the Government Must Be Vaccinated Within a Week: Nikol Pashinyan

Nikol Pashinyan addressed the government meeting, discussing the situation related to COVID-19, including the importance of citizens getting vaccinated. He reminded that the world has been living under pandemic conditions for more than a year, and the Armenian government’s strategy has initially been to learn to live with COVID-19, meaning minimal deviations from normal life.

“Due to the war, we may have overlooked vaccinations, but now there is considerable potential for vaccination, although we face the problem that this potential is not being utilized at an appropriate level,” he said.

The acting Minister of Health, Anahit Avanesyan, stated that today, 656 new positive cases of coronavirus have been recorded, with over 2,000 infected individuals currently in hospitals. In the last day, there have been 16 deaths. The death toll has already surpassed 4,000. Avanesyan emphasized that vaccines are available for citizens over 18 years of age.

She recalled that on April 28, both she and Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan were vaccinated, and she feels well. “Vaccination is the only tool that will help to put an end to the disastrous course of deaths and curb the next disastrous phase,” she said.

Nikol Pashinyan highlighted that they should lead by example, stating that all members of the government must be vaccinated within a week. “If any vaccine poses any danger to the health or life of citizens, the government of Armenia will simply not accept that vaccine,” he said, adding that there are significant media speculations regarding vaccines.

“It is not at all surprising that there is a campaign against vaccinations in Armenia because unfortunately, movements against vaccinations have emerged in Armenia in recent years, the purpose of which is unclear. We all need to get vaccinated. Currently, only 2,690 people are vaccinated in Armenia, which is a disgracefully low figure. At this point, the number of vaccinated individuals in a country is a sign of its quality in all respects, so this should be our daily job,” Nikol Pashinyan stated, noting that soon vaccination will be mandatory for travel.

He emphasized the importance of vaccination not only for traveling abroad from Armenia but also for tourists arriving in our country. On April 26, a batch of the Russian “Sputnik-V” vaccine arrived in Armenia for 14,000 people (the first component). On March 28, the first batch of the “AstraZeneca” vaccine against coronavirus was delivered through the “COVAX FACILITY” initiative, consisting of 24,000 doses. And on April 8, the first batch of the “Sputnik-V” vaccine arrived, consisting of 15,000 doses for 7,500 people. During the first week of May, Armenia will receive 100,000 doses of the CoronaVac vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac as a donation.