Armenian PM urges lawmakers to get vaccinated against coronavirus
YEREVAN, May 3. /ARKA/. Armenia's Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on parliament members today urging them to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
“Today my wife and I got vaccinated, and I call on the MPs to get vaccinated. It is highly likely that travel restrictions for unvaccinated citizens will be imposed in the second half of 2021. Now the issue is being discussed and it is still difficult to say whether a decision will be made. But we must be ready,” Pashinyan said.
He noted that the supply of vaccines has already been regulated, availability has expanded and it takes about 2 months to complete the entire vaccination cycle.
He said Armenia now has quite large stocks of vaccines, and there is an opportunity to start large-scale vaccination. He drew attention to the fact that now the infection incidence is declining and if the vaccination process is properly organized; it will be possible to quickly beat the virus.
“This is important not only for the possibility of traveling abroad, that is, even with a negative test, there may be restrictions on travel, but also for international travel agencies,” Pashinyan said.
He noted that tourists are already arriving in Armenia and if the vaccination process is properly organized, their number will definitely grow.
He also emphasized that it was important for hotels, catering facilities and service companies to organize the vaccination process for their employees.
“The minister of health and I discussed the possibility of issuing a state distinctive sign so that companies (hotels or restaurants), in which 70% of employees are vaccinated, receive safety tags,” Pashinyan said.
He also stressed that the number of complaints for each 2 million vaccinations is about 200.
Large-scale vaccination started in Armenia on April 13. The goal is to have as many as 700,000 people get vaccinated during the year.
Armenia has already bought 24 thousand doses of AstraZeneca, 100,00o dozes of Chinese coronial and 29,000 dozes of Russian Sputnik V vaccines. Vaccination is voluntary for all citizens over 18 years of age.
According to the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 persons have died from Covid-19 during the past 24 hours, taking the total tally of such deaths to 4,149. -0-
