Minister's Contradictory Decision: ‘Haykakan Jamanak’

According to the order of the Minister of Health of Armenia, starting from January 22, visitors to public catering establishments, hotels, and gyms, as well as attendees of libraries, museums, and organizations engaged in theatrical, cinematic, and other cultural activities will be allowed entry only if they present either a certificate confirming a negative PCR test result taken within a maximum of 72 hours or a negative test result certificate from within 24 hours.

‘Haykakan Jamanak’ writes: Naturally, the decision entails restrictions, and for instance, it does not apply to individuals under the age of 18. Pregnant women, those with documented absolute contraindications, and students can be exempted from presenting either a test or a negative PCR test result when providing identification. This creates a contradiction in the case of students.

The fact is that since October 1 of the previous year, there has been a constitutionally recognized requirement for mandatory vaccination or a negative coronavirus test result every 14 days. However, students attending university classes can opt out of vaccination; they are treated as an exception. Thus, in universities, where student interaction is significantly higher than, for instance, having lunch at a public catering point with three people, students can avoid testing or vaccination, even though the risk of infection does not decrease.

This paradoxical and uncontrollable application of policies is contributing to the continuing low vaccination rates in Armenia. According to the Ministry of Health, as of January 9, a total of 1,694,518 COVID vaccinations have been administered, of which 952,813 were first doses and 740,489 were second doses.

The full article is available in today’s edition of the newspaper.