Nikol Pashinyan gave the entire Cabinet of Ministers a week to  vaccinate against COVID-19 

ArmInfo.Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan gave the entire Cabinet of Ministers a week to vaccinate. "Let's start with ourselves," Pashinyan called on all  those present in the hall at a government meeting on April 29.

Pashinyan noted that for more than a year Armenia has been living in  a pandemic. "Initially, our strategy was to learn to live in a covid  environment. The second part of this strategy is the vaccination  process," he said. According to acting Prime Minister, currently  Armenia has the proper potential for the implementation of the  vaccination process.

Acting prime minister pointed out that in the modern world, economic  growth is largely due to the scale of vaccination of the country's  population. In particular, tourism opportunities are assessed by this  very criterion.

Acting Head of the Ministry of Health Anahit Avanesyan recalled that  656 new cases of coronavirus were recorded in Armenia today. Thus,  there are 13257 active cases of the disease, of which more than 2  thousand receive inpatient treatment. Only a complete vaccination  will allow a return to normal life, she said. "Today we have the  necessary infrastructure for vaccination, the drug is available to  all citizens over 18 years old. From next week there will be mobile  vaccination points," Avanesyan said. According to her, all available  vaccines 100% protect citizens from the severe course of the disease. 

"I urge my colleagues to actively get involved in the process and by  their example to show the priority of the task," she stressed,  recalling that the day before she and acting Deputy Prime Minister  Tigran Avinyan were vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Vaxzevria  (AstraZeneca) vaccine.  "Avanesyan and Avinyan vaccinated the day  before, and nothing extraordinary happened," Pashinyan noted. 

He urged those present to be vaccinated within a week, pointing out that today only 2690 people have received the vaccine in the republic. 

At the same time, as stressed by the acting head of the Cabinet of  Ministers, in the near future receiving the vaccine will become a  mandatory requirement for tourism. "In a month or two, no country  will accept an unvaccinated citizen," he said.

Acting Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan hastened to confirm the  words of the acting head of the Cabinet. According to him, all  conversations with international partners indicate that soon citizens  will not receive permission to cross the border without a "green  passport." Anahit Avanesyan, in turn, said that Armenia will soon  provide the vaccinated citizens with a certificate of receipt of the  coronavirus vaccine.  Earlier, within the framework of the global  mechanism for ensuring access to vaccines against COVID-19 (COVAX  Facility), 24 thousand doses of the drug Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) were  delivered to the republic.  

On April 15, from the rostrum of the parliament, the head of the  Armenian Ministry of Health stated that the expiration date of the  AstraZeneca vaccine brought to Armenia expires on May 31. According  to the minister, the vaccine has a shelf life of approximately two  months. Avanesyan explained that all vaccines against the new  coronavirus infection have a similar lifespan. Next week, Armenia  will receive a batch of the Chinese vaccine against coronavirus. The  vaccine will be available to all citizens over 18 years of age.   Armenia has already received 100 thousand doses of the Chinese  vaccine, which are intended for 50 thousand people. It was provided  to Armenia free of charge, the Armenian side only organized the  transportation. There is also a preliminary agreement on the purchase  of the Novavax vaccine (USA), but the terms and cost of the drug have  not been specified.