Armenia reaches agreement with Russia to buy one million doses of Sputnik V

TASS, Russia

The country has already begun inoculating people with Russia’s Sputnik V after 15,000 doses of the jab recently arrived in the country

YEREVAN, April 14. /TASS/. Yerevan will purchase one million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine after Armenia and Russia have reached a relevant agreement on the high level, Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan told the national parliament Wednesday.

"I would like to underline that there is a high-level agreement to buy one million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia. Keeping other agreements in mind, we believe it is possible to vaccinate up to 20% of the population before the end of the year," she stressed.

The country has already begun inoculating people with Russia’s Sputnik V after 15,000 doses of the jab recently arrived in the country. Health workers are getting vaccinated as well as people with chronic conditions, workers of social facilities and people aged between 18 and 55 living in them.

Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with a Rossiya-1 journalist that Yerevan needs approximately one million doses of this shot.

Meanwhile, the country continues to face challenges linked to the COVID-19 spread. Several hundred cases are reported every day, while daily cases often reach 1,000. According to the latest data, Armenia has identified 205,128 coronavirus cases (approximately 7% of the population), while 3,794 people have died from the coronavirus-related complications. Pashinyan called on Armenians in mid-March to be stricter with epidemiological measures.