Armenia has not started vaccination against COVID-19, and is at the  stage of signing agreements

ArmInfo.Armenia has not yet started the process of mass vaccination of the population,  Spokesperson of RA Ministry of Health Hripsime Khachatryan told  ArmInfo correspondent about this. According to her, the Armenian side  is still at the stage of signing the documents, after the completion  of the negotiations.

"We are doing everything in our power not to postpone the process,  but a lot depends on our partners. We are at the stage of signing  documents," she said.

At the same time, she informed that employees of medical institutions  working with covid patients were vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik  V vaccine donated to the Armenian side.  It should be noted that as  early as February 1 it became known that Armenia had registered the  Russian Sputnik V vaccine. As reported by the press service of the  Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the decision to approve the  vaccine was made on the basis of data from phase III clinical trials  in Russia without additional trials in Armenia.

It is also worth noting that the professional commission approved the  use of three coronavirus vaccines in Armenia at once: Sputnik V,  AstraZeneca and Pfizer. Armenia joined the COVAX FACILITY  international initiative last year in order to purchase a vaccine  against coronavirus, which aims to provide all interested countries  with equal opportunities to purchase a vaccine available on the  market.

For example, a vaccine was proposed developed by specialists from the  British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford,  which, judging by international reviews in the media, has a  relatively low efficiency - 70%, the vaccine of the American-German  joint production of Pfizer with an efficiency of 95%, the American  Moderna with efficiency over 94%. In parallel, Armenia was  negotiating the purchase of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

In total, 755,348 tests for coronavirus were carried out in Armenia,  of which 175,198 citizens (23.2%) were diagnosed with the disease,  165,096 people (94.2%) recovered, the number of deaths reached 3,232  (1, 8%). 6,038 patients are currently receiving actual treatment in  medical institutions in the country.