-Mrs. Minister, during your recent press conference you mentioned about the Sinovac company’s CoronaVac vaccine expected to be delivered by China as a donation. When will the first batch be delivered to Armenia and in how much doses? What will be the age threshold for getting this vaccine? And also there was a talk about the American Novavax vaccine. When will this one be supplied to Armenia?
-It will be in Armenia in the first week of May, with 100,000 doses, which is for 50,000 people. As for the arrival of Novavax, there are no concrete agreements yet, however, we have a preliminary agreement. We will specify the dates and the doses over the course of the time.
-In the Parliament you considered possible that up to 20% of the population will be vaccinated within a year. Why 20%? Because you will manage to acquire so much vaccine or you think that the number of people wishing to be vaccinated will not be so much?
-All countries choose priorities and set the whole vaccination bar for the people at risk, but of course, it also depends on how many people apply for it, it depends also on the availability of vaccine, because we cannot say what will be the epidemiological situation in other countries, for instance, in Greece, the situation is very serious at this moment. Therefore, it’s very difficult to make predictions over the distribution of overall vaccines. And we believe that we will have the sufficient threshold of public immunity as a result of the vaccinations of 600-700 thousand citizens as I said. Of course, the vaccinations will continue, but we will already have a sufficient threshold for living more calmly.
-The expiry date of AstraZeneca is in late-May. Will we manage to use all the doses before it expires? If not, what should be done with that vaccines? Is there a possibility to replace them with new vaccines?
-All vaccines have quite a short expiry date, almost all of them are for use up to 6 months. Starting from production up to reaching the final consumer, 1-3 months are the sufficient period for which the countries are able to get the vaccine. We are making huge efforts for the system to be fully ready to conduct the vaccination process. We also carry out information campaigns, try to present to the public the importance of positive results of vaccinations and that the vaccine is really a life-saving mean. We have high hopes and feel that citizens’ activeness is increasing. Although it’s not in that much than we expected, because, unfortunately, there is a major anti-propaganda and attempt is made to politicize this issue, which is not right. But Armenia is not the only country facing this problem.
We do not have an opportunity to exchange with the new batch. And in this case making any prediction is just impossible. We have a bar, and as an authorized body we have taken commitment to provide as much citizens as possible with the vaccine, but this process is on voluntary basis.
-Will Armenia get another batch of AstraZeneca after its expiry date?
-This is the first dose, and of course, those people, who are being vaccinated, must get also the second dose. And we must also obtain the second dose in order to ensure the process.
-When the world started producing vaccines, Armenia had great hopes with our compatriot Noubar Afeyan’s Moderna vaccine. But at this moment we do not have this vaccine, it is more expensive. Are there any plans for acquiring this vaccine?
-It is not only expensive, but its storage conditions are absolutely different. Of course, not only we have to pay for the vaccine, but also our entire immunization infrastructure should change in order to be able to ensure. Of course, we are in constant touch and are trying to consider, see and assess the ongoing offers of Pfizer, Moderna and other vaccines. But, vaccine is a necessity, not a luxury. Therefore, if there is a...
