Armenia did not apply for vaccine․ The Ministry of Health and Alen Simonyan contradict each other

Speaking to citizens protesting in front of the National Assembly on September 4, and referring to the spread of the infection in the country and measures to prevent it, NA Vice Speaker Alen Simonyan stated that Armenia has already submitted an application for the coronavirus vaccine. “There are 4 organizations today that are engaged in creating the vaccine and are closest to finding the vaccine. We are in the queue for all of them.”

Two days ago, on September 2, spokesperson of the Ministry of Health Alina Nikoghosyan told 168․am that at the moment there is no ongoing process for acquiring a vaccine from any country.

The Fact Investigation Platform contacted the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health to find out once again whether any process has been started to obtain a vaccine against coronavirus. In response, Alina Nikoghosyan reaffirmed her assertion made a few days ago. “At the moment we are considering all the markets where the vaccine is produced or is still in the testing phase. We do not have a final position yet, but we are following the situation. We are interested in all the countries that produce it, but the ministry has not yet submitted a procurement application,” said the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health.

Thus, it turns out that the statement of the NA Vice Speaker Alen Simonyan that Armenia is “in the queue” to get a vaccine from 4 companies engaged in the development of a coronavirus vaccine, contradicts the statements of the Ministry of Health.

Sevada Ghazaryan