YEREVAN. – Vaccine development and drug development are two different processes that are simultaneously taking place around the world. Armenia’s Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan stated this Tuesday during a meeting with journalists, and regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are taking action with both," he added.

The minister also noted that the situation is different with regard to vaccines. "About 200 vaccines are currently being developed around the world, about 20 of which have a good chance of becoming a final product. It’s a compromise situation, and public health experts believe there will be a vaccine. That conviction is very important; at first, there was no such conviction. That's why the countries are already discussing the issue of buying the future vaccine. (…).

We [Armenia] have decided to at least start such talks with manufacturers (…) as well as with collective buyers—such as UNICEF, WTO, Gavi [the Vaccine Alliance]—that can buy batches and evenly distribute for 100 countries at once. Only the presence of a vaccine will allow us to return to a normal life—without masks," Torosyan said.