Vaccination should be the result of every person’s informed decision, not coercion — the positive and potentially negative consequences of vaccination need to be presented to the public in detail and transparently. This is stated in the statement issued by the opposition “Armenia” faction of the National Assembly of Armenia. The statement reads as follows:

“The bill on making amendments to the new restrictions for prevention of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and to the Law on Public Service have become a subject for wide public discourse.

The approach that vaccination is de facto becoming simply mandatory can’t arise from the rule of law.

Vaccination should be the result of every person’s informed decision, not coercion — the positive and potentially negative consequences of vaccination need to be presented to the public in detail and transparently. At the same time, the approach according to which a person must get tested for coronavirus once every 15 days at the expense of his or her own funds and submit the results of the test in case of refusal to get vaccinated, is an embarrassingly disproportionate and unlawful act and, once again, it goes to show that the incumbent authorities are avoiding fulfilling their duties and leaving it up to the people to fulfill them. What is also unacceptable is the proposal for a differentiated approach with regard to persons holding political offices (President, Prime Minister, ministers, deputies of Armenia).

While making testing mandatory, the government is obliged to subsidize the mentioned expenses."